Azure Light
by Toki Mirage
Summary: The Earth had been dying for years. If Harry were a decrepit old man, he would say he could feel it in his bones, but that wasn't exactly accurate for an undying man. Slash.
1. Chapter 1

**Azure Light**

~A~

The Earth had been dying for years. If he were a decrepit old man, he would say he could feel it in his bones, but that wasn't exactly accurate. He could feel it with each breath, with each spell cast, with each mental brush to the planet's energies…

The constant awareness had become a persistent headache over the years, growing worse with each decade, and no amount of pain medication, potions, or healing made it any better. A century ago he had reached his limit. Tried to give himself the eternal silence he'd begun to crave, to end the cries of a dying planet…

Only to fail.

Stubborn, he'd continued his efforts. Gone so far as to destroy his body by putting himself beneath the engines of a shuttle going into space.

After that time he'd stopped. The pain of joining the dying consciousness of the planet for that short moment before his body had been regenerated had felt like eons. There had been no parents there to greet him, no godfather, no friends… only a mass of pain, death, and screams.

After that, he'd known there would be no peace, and so he continued moving from day to day, hoping… praying… trying to find some way to save the planet that was dying around him in case one day, by some miracle, he would finally die for real. He didn't want to join that mass of writhing consciousness again unless the wounds had been filled, magic had been restored, and that which had been taken from the planet was returned or grown anew.

Because the muggles had won, in the end. Perhaps Voldemort had seen it. Predicted it. Known how they would slowly consume the planet like a parasite until there was nothing left to salvage, until they had to turn to other planets and start consuming them as well.

Humanity had turned into a cancer; once part of the system, it had overcome it and moved beyond the rules of nature to do as it pleased. Destroying the very organism on which it lived, humans were forced to turn to breathing apparatuses or suffer a slow painful death by the toxins in the air. Food had to be grown in giant green houses that were located near the equator in order to optimize production. Water had to go through five stages of purification. The only animals still living were contained, bred, and slaughtered in locations similar to the green houses.

It had taken him a long time to figure out what was wrong with the planet. Nearly a full century of his time was devoted to studying it, to getting a PhD in biology so he could correlate the things he felt with what science could offer. As magic was mostly intuitive, and so was the consciousness of the planet, it was nearly impossible to find any solutions listening to its screams of pain and finding the places on its surface that… hurt the most.

After those many years of studying biology, forcing things into his head that he had no inclination for by sheer, stubborn determination, he had figured it out. The planet wasn't just a rock with minerals, an ecosystem, and a bunch of little things running or swimming along its surface. It had a _soul_. Merely destroying the body shouldn't have damaged the spirit of the planet to the extent where it would slowly rot away.

It had been a rather simple thing, truthfully, one he hadn't thought of until he'd returned to the ruins of Hogwarts in the middle of the uranium wastelands of Scotland. Nostalgia had brought him there, and nostalgia had given him the answer.

Why did anything electronic not work within Hogwarts' walls? Why did every breathing apparatus Harry had put over his face died moments after coming into contact with his skin? Why did Harry have to contain his aura to _such_ an extent, _and_ wear radiation-dampening gloves to be able to touch a computer without making it explode and taking out the local network?

Technology was a disease.

While humans were a physical cancer spreading across the surface of the planet, technology was a virus that killed magic, the immune system of the planet. Every time Harry came into contact with it, his magic would try to cleanse the alien entity and nearly drive him to magical exhaustion.

He'd died a couple times before he'd figured that one out.

And it had been much, much too late to be able to do anything about it. The natural magic of the planet that had been a buffer between magical people and budding technologies had fallen, and so had her people. At least, if Voldemort had won, muggles across the planet would have been wiped out, but humans would still be able to die in peace.

Now they didn't even have _that_ luxury.

He'd tried to find ways to do it. Tried to find a way to wipe out all technology. For a whole decade he had stored his magic inside a large diamond, intending to use it to expunge the virus that had taken over the planet.

Only, it hadn't spread nearly far enough. It had barely taken out the university near where he lived, let alone all the technology on the planet. And with resources and knowledge at their disposal, humans were quick to put it all back together again as if his hundred years of effort had been nothing.

If he were Hermione, he might have been able to figure out a way to do it. But she, along with every other witch and wizard, had died centuries ago with the weakening of magic. It had no longer been there to buffer their small magical cores from the destructive power of technology. The magic world had literally withered into a dried husk and just blown away like dust on the wind.

Which brought Harry to the quandary he'd been facing for the past two thousand years.

_Why was he still alive?_

~A~

_July 6__th__, 1371 After Corporate Unification_

_United Charles Jameston University  
Pandora Seminar_

"Dr. Blackstone? Is that really you?"

Harry turned around with a polite, inquisitive look on his face. He didn't recognize the face at all. When you'd lived for two millennia and you'd ceased to be social, it wasn't hard.

"It's Norm! Norm Spellman. Remember me now?" The lanky kid was nearly vibrating in his sneakers, he looked so excited. "You gave us a lecture on the connectivity between our physical reality and our minds back in Biology 1001. I came up afterwards and asked if I could quote you in one of my papers for that class."

It wasn't surprising he didn't remember, but he shaped his face into a look of recognition and smiled. He'd learned to fit in after so many years of floating through muggle society. He'd also grudgingly had to learn how to manipulate the computers the species was so proud of – it was kind of hard to create a new identity for yourself every twenty or so years if you didn't know how to manipulate the system. The longest he'd ever pushed it was thirty, but at that point people had started noticing that he never aged.

"Did you get a good mark?" he asked inquisitively, curling his lips up at the corners in a semblance of a smile.

"Well, the Prof wasn't too happy about me using theories that don't have much scientific proof behind them, so she only gave me a B."

Harry hummed thoughtfully. Bitch. A blind muggle is as a blind muggle does. "So what brings you here?" Harry asked, continuing the conversation that the boy seemed so eager for. Being too antisocial made people notice you more, and remember you. Sitting down near the front of the lecture hall, he was glad he'd gotten here early enough that there were still some pretty decent seats.

"I'm interested in Pandora as well. I was thinking of applying to be part of the second expedition, but… well, I hear it's _really_ hard to get in. Especially as an AVATAR driver."

Harry frowned. "Avatar?" Maybe he hadn't stayed far enough in the loop on this one. He'd never thought they'd _succeed_ in going to a planet that far away, to be honest.

Norm's eyes widened. "You don't know about it? On Pandora there's a race of people called the Na'vi. In order for the first expedition to get to know their culture, they mixed human DNA with that of the Na'vi and made these remote-controlled bodies called AVATARs." When Harry's expression remained blank, Norm gaped. "You seriously don't know? Man you're out of the loop."

Great. Now someone else was noticing it, too. Fact was, he'd never considered Pandora worth worrying about, before. He had too much shit to deal with on his own planet.

But… he was wearing down. With every year the last vestiges of magic disintegrated bit by bit, and with them went the last of the buffer for Harry. He could create his own anti-technology field for the most part, but forcibly keeping his magic sealed inside his skin was taxing, painful, and only made the headaches worse. Lately…

Lately he'd been wondering if he should just use the money he'd saved up in multiple bank accounts and create a house on Mars, all alone. The idea of silence for eternity had always kept him away.

But if Pandora had real people on it…

The seminar started, tearing Harry from his guilty thoughts. It was utterly fascinating. The first expedition had sent back copious amounts of information on the biology, wild life, and culture of the people, and the leader of the science team had actually written a _book_ in the ten years that she'd been there, almost sixteen years since she'd left Earth. All of this was, of course, sent back by subspace communication.

Then there was unobtainium. The first traces of the alloy they'd found in this solar system had come in the form of a large meteor passing by Jupiter. They'd sent astronauts to catch some of the debris as it passed by, and then they'd discovered unobtainium, an element that had never existed in the solar system.

Being greedy bastards, however, they traced the meteor back to a system of planets that had a high concentration of this metal and toxic gases. Except, the beings that existed on the moon of one of the planets in the system were completely unaffected by the toxic atmosphere, food, and water.

Thus, the first expedition. And the skirmishes that followed it. The natives weren't exactly happy that aliens had shown up on their doorstep and started blasting away earth to get at a rock that they didn't even use.

By the end of the three-hour seminar, Harry was both fascinated and disgusted. This planet seemed like such an amazing place, and yet the Resources Development Administration had jumped on it like flies on a hamburger. Soon it too would be consumed, and no matter how much 'peace talk' they sent back to Earth to placate the public, it would eventually turn ugly. Human history was predictable that way.

He'd been living it for long enough to know.

~A~

_Six years later, December 14__th__, 1377 A.C.U._

_State of London, RDA Base of Pandoran Operations_

_Pre-boarding area_

"Dr. Blackstone! Fancy seeing you again!"

This time Harry remembered him. It helped that he'd run into the kid a few times during AVATAR training. "Hello again. I see your hard work paid off for you."

The kid blushed, scratching the back of his head with a grin on his face. "Thanks. It was really tough. But I guess you already knew about that, being a year ahead of me in the program." He laughed slightly, eyeing Harry with a bit of awe. There had been three different 'classes' of AVATAR drivers. Harry had gotten into the program far earlier than Norm because of his connections and experience as a scientist. Coupled with the fact that he'd actually met Dr. Augustine a few times before she took off for planets unknown, he hadn't had to go through as much education as Norm had just to get into the program itself.

At the moment, they were in one of the many waiting rooms where they were to be processed before getting on the shuttle that would take them up to the space station-cum-ship that was taking them to Pandora.

"-tone? Dr. Blackstone?"

Harry snapped out of his thoughts. "Oh, sorry Norm. I just… can't stop thinking about the trip." To be honest, he was kind of… empty inside. He knew he should be worried about it, should be worried that he didn't care that he was leaving Earth. That he was almost… relieved to be leaving. To have finally given up on saving it after so many years of strife, pain, and disappointment.

At this point, he didn't even care about what might happen to him, being separated from the planet's remaining magic in this way.

"_Would all passengers with last names beginning with A and B please proceed to the gate for inspection and admittance with your Passport ID and baggage ticket in hand."_

"Well, guess that's my cue." He turned to Norm. "See you on Pandora, I guess." The kid grinned at him nervously. Harry could see a slightly freaked out glint to his eyes. "Hey, don't worry. You'll be unconscious for the next five or so years sometime later today. Spare the worrying for later, when you really need it." When Norm's expression just paled slightly, Harry had to admit that somehow, he'd gotten even worse at comforting people.

Walking up to the lady checking passports and tickets, he got in the rather small line of people and wondered how many of them were soldiers. With some it was obvious in the way that they walked and the _awareness_ they had of themselves.

Harry had tried the army for a while, hoping some of the weapons humanity had created would finally end his life. This was, of course, rather early in his lifetime. Those failures had ended with the jets of the shuttle he'd stepped under. After that he'd decided nothing could kill him.

Probably not the best attitude to have when going several light years away from home, to a hostile and unknown planet, but at this point he couldn't really bring himself to care.

_-Toki Mirage-_

So, my birthday approaches and this is my present to myself. I know I put that poll up, and HP/AVA didn't win, but I'm doing this for myself. :) I know you all want a BS update, and it's coming, don't worry. It just requires more planning than this thing does, and more time. I'm finally done work, there's just 'moving back to school'. I really should be packing right now… (coughs) (starts laundry)


	2. Chapter 2

**Azure Light**

~A~

Space was a very empty place. You didn't really think about it that much when you lived on a planet filled with water, oxygen, plants, and toxins in the Earth's case. However, it was a very pressing feeling on Harry's mind during the duration of their travel.

Cryo-sleep. More like cryo-meditation in his case. His mind and magic had rejected its effects with ease, not that he was really surprised. The slowing of his metabolism and bodily functions had, however, made his brain work at such a slow rate that it didn't feel like the full five years.

It did, however, give him lots of time to think and enough mental awareness to keep his magic from frying the cryo-chamber in which he currently lay. He didn't know what he would have done if he had been completely awake, functional, and starving for the entire duration of the flight. Yes, there was a graveyard shift of pilots that the ship cycled through every few months that could have fed him, but it would be rather awkward to explain to them why every new cryo-chamber they put him in kept… self-combusting.

He could feel it now. Had felt it for a while, actually, but hadn't been able to put his finger on it. But as they drew closer and closer to their destination it began to fill his entire awareness with the sheer amount of _energy_ thrumming within it.

Pandora. Such an unassuming name for such an entity. It easily dwarfed what he had believed to be Earth's magnificence two millennia ago. The consciousness of the planet felt so much… older, wiser, rich with experience and life and an almost-magic but not quite… He had no way to describe it, having never felt anything like it before.

They had nearly arrived when the planet noticed him for the first time. He knew this because it nearly sent him into seizures when it 'touched' him curiously. After his violent reaction in the cryo-chamber, and after almost making it explode, the entity backed off thankfully. He could sense something coming from it, an emotion of some kind, but couldn't figure out what it was. It was like… when he'd first gone to France, he couldn't understand a thing they were saying. He could feel the entity try to speak to him, but couldn't understand its communication at all.

Trying to communicate with it in the way he had communicated with Earth before its demise hadn't cleared things up either. It had just made the planet more curious, made it hover around the edges of his consciousness and _watch_ him, as if trying to figure out what he was.

When finally the cryo-sleep ended, Harry couldn't be more relieved to get out of the straps keeping his floating body from crashing into the walls of the coffin-like chamber. Ha, wouldn't that have been great if everyone on this ship had 'died' and these cryo-coffins had become their _real_ resting places.

Well, it wasn't that funny. He would still have been alive, after all.

"Well aren't you looking lively," a woman in the clothes they'd all had to change into for cryo commented as his chamber extended itself from the wall. He could feel the presence of the person to his back slowly waking up as well. Eager to get out of the restraints holding him down, Harry felt around for a release hatch.

"Now now, don't get ahead of yourself. You feeling any nausea or pain?"

Harry stared at her.

"Well, it's not that surprising. If you need to throw up, please use one of the sacks located to your right. Floating puke is always such a hassle to clean up."

"How… how long have we been out for?" one of his neighbours asked, looking like he'd just been bowled over by a horse after drinking five bottles of tequila.

"Five years, nine months and… well, I don't count the days. Makes time go by faster when you're wake duty."

The guy grunted. "Speaking of nausea…"

The woman was quick to grab him a sack. "Some people don't handle cryo as well as others. Take it easy, okay? I have to go make sure the rest of this row is alright." She floated off to the next group.

Harry, feeling as if he'd just spent the last five years awake but not awake, almost cheered when he finally found the clasp to get him out of this thing. Instead, he grunted and pushed the floating belt away, turning around in the air and gripping the metal bars that were part of his 'coffin'. Turning himself around in the air, he looked for the locker with his name on it and let out a small sigh when he finally located it. Pushing off the coffin towards the shiny metal door labelled _Blackstone_, he hoped nothing had been damaged during the flight. It was unlikely, but the people handling his luggage hadn't been that gentle with it. Thankfully it was mostly filled with clothes, a few stones that he could store magic in, and a rather unassuming-looking focus in the shape of a white metal bracelet with a ruby as its center-piece.

He'd lost or destroyed all his personal belongings long ago. Photos of people long since dead with him in them… anything that could possibly be incriminating he'd destroyed. It had hurt most, however, when he had destroyed his old wand. Not that it worked for him anymore. The changing of magic had affected the way he cast, and time and necessity since then had taught him the art of wandless casting. Now he only relied on his ruby bracelet if he had to focus large amounts of magic.

On Pandora, though… who knew how spellwork would react.

"Please grab your things from your locker and make your way to the doors at the end of the cryo-room! If you have trouble navigating in zero gravity, just float there until we can help you!"

It was unfortunate the guy didn't have a mic because there was no way everyone had heard him. Not with the amount of excited and groggy chatter going on. Since Harry was in the civilian part of the expedition, there was much more talking now that they were finally there. He bet that they would also be going down on a different shuttle than the Marines or air force, too.

"Damn, this feels like the worst hang over I've had since grad. Eugh," the guy behind him groaned. Harry refrained from commenting, having given up on alcohol quite some time ago. After drinking himself into a stupor for a full thirty years straight, his body had developed an irritating resistance to toxins. It was one of the reasons why the drugs they used in cryo hadn't been a hundred percent effective.

Thankfully, after his lack of comment the other science geek didn't say anything else, and the rather slow, floating line moved more quickly.

They were fed, watered, washed, and changed before leaving the satellite-like ship. It was set to orbit the moon, and in a few hours they would be leaving the ship via shuttle. It had just enough fuel for a trip back to earth, but sometimes Harry wondered… wondered why they had still refused to move on to another energy resource and insisted on using combustion engines after all this time.

It was just another way that humanity refused to move forward into more environmentally friendly habits.

The food in the mess was terrible, though that was far from unexpected. While the colony of sorts on the surface of the planet had managed to grow some kinds of human foods on Pandora, the toxins had prevented most of them from being edible. They were still working on ways of splicing rice genes into the fruit and other vegetables, as it was, oddly enough, the only food that failed to absorb the toxins in Pandora's atmosphere. Rice just didn't cut it in the long run, though, even with nutritional supplements.

Norm found him in the mess. Started a conversation with him that the kid was forced to carry mostly himself. Harry wasn't much of a talker anymore, but Norm didn't seem to mind too much. Filled with excitement and enthusiasm, he nearly overflowed with talk about biology, botany, chemistry, and just about every other scientific thing the kid could think of and relate to their new adventure on Pandora.

"Alright people! Make your way to the shuttle please, and we'll be topside for the safety brief! Stack your food trays in the bins and hurry it up!"

Harry could see the military influence already as the assistants 'herded' the cattle (scientists) to the exits and directed them down to the shuttle loading zone. The Marines had already taken off (Harry could see the second shuttle fly off through one of the few windows located onboard), and now it was just the civilians holding up the party.

Fortunately, with some very good cattle prodding and plentiful use of the no-nonsense sergeant barking, they were offship in twenty minutes.

~A~

_Five years, nine months, and twenty-two days since leaving Earth_

_October 6__th__, 1383 A.C.U._

_Pandora, RDA Mining Station_

_Safety debriefing_

"You are not in Kansas anymore. You are on Pandora, ladies and gentlemen. Respect that fact every second of every day. If there is a hell, you might want to go there for some R&R after a tour on Pandora. Out there, beyond that fence, every living thing that crawls, flies, or squats in the mud wants to kill you and eat your eyes for Jujubes."

Had Quaritch seriously just made a reference to one of the few gummy candies that had survived all these years in a safety brief?

"We have an indigenous population of humanoids called the Na'vi. They're fond of arrows dipped in a neurotoxin that'll stop your heart in one minute. And they have bones reinforced with naturally occurring carbon fiber. They are very hard to kill.

"As head of security, it is my job to keep you alive. I will not succeed. Not with all of you. If you wish to survive, you need to cultivate a strong mental attitude. You've got to obey the rules. Pandora rules. Rule number one: wear your exo-pack gear at _all times_. Rule number two: do not eat anything that is not provided by the kitchen. Rule number three: obey the chain of command…"

Quaritch continued for some time, often making subtle jabs about scientists being too stupid to realize what a gun was or to avoid the mine field located around the perimeter of the base. Harry listened to what he had to say, knowing that following the rules was a good way to avoid unnecessary attention. It was also important not only to his own safety, but the safety of other members of the expedition.

The company had a mission, after all. Mine, refine, and then ship unobtainium back to Earth with every rotation of staff. Harry had seen the smoke-stacks on the way in, but hadn't been able to feel them oddly enough. Normally he could feel any kind of expenditure of energy, but on this planet… there was so much interference. A constant transfer of energy. It almost felt like a buzzing beehive there was so much constant movement in every single living thing. It was like a hyperactive child compared to the slow flow of Earth.

After the safety brief, Harry found himself without much to do until a man approached him from the doorway with a smile. Most of the other Marines and scientists like Norm were led away to their new rooms by other staff, but Harry…

"Hi! Pleased to meet you. I'm Max Patel," the black-haired and dark-skinned man said with a smile, holding out his hand.

Harry shook it, a half-confused smile on his face. "Harry Blackstone."

"Yes, yes, I know. Dr. Augustine was very excited to get her hands on you, you realize. She insists on meeting you tonight before you're swallowed into orientation tomorrow."

Oh. Well… finding himself without much choice in the matter, Harry let himself be dragged from the room and down a maze of corridors that all looked the same. Finally, they came to a stop in a room that had around a dozen familiar coffins inside it. Or links, rather. If there was one thing for Harry to be excited about, it was the idea of joining with the AVATAR body that he had gotten a glimpse of before leaving Earth.

"So, you're the famous Dr. Blackstone. We met once before, right?"

Harry stared at the somewhat gruff woman for a moment before jumpstarting his brain. "Yes. It's a pleasure to meet you, Dr. Augustine."

"Oh please, call me Grace," she said walking over to one of the nearby glass monitors and examining the many flashing lights on it. "How many hours have you logged?"

"You may call me Harry, then. And I have logged approximately five hundred hours. I didn't quite care to count."

She nodded. "Your AVATAR will be decanted tomorrow along with the others. We can't have every new driver in the links at once, but you'll be part of the first group being initiated. How's your Na'vi?"

Harry grimaced. "It's hard to learn a language when the teachers don't have any first hand experience with the language. I hope to remedy some errors in my learning while I'm here."

She nodded with a pleased glint to her sharp dark eyes. "Care to join me for dinner?"

Harry couldn't stop his eyelids from sinking in exhaustion. "Actually, I'm afraid I would be rather poor dinner conversation for you at this venture. What I really need is twelve hours of sleep, or more."

She nodded. "Understandable. We'll have lots of time in the future to discuss theories, anyway. I'll be looking forward to your views on some interesting aspects of Pandora biology. Max!"

The dark man appeared from whatever room he had snuck into. "Yes, Grace?"

"Take Harry to his room, will you? Cryo doesn't agree with him."

Harry followed the man without a word, too tired to argue. His brain had been in a half-awake state for the past five years. He felt like he could sleep for a year straight, easy.

After being dropped off at his new room, Harry gratefully dropped his assigned duffel bag onto the floor and crawled under the sheets of his new bed, thankful that the bed had already been made. Within moments, he had fallen into dreams of coloured lights, a network of energy, and a consciousness large enough to test his sanity.

_-Toki Mirage-_

(yawns) Dude. Tired. Didn't get much packing done, but the laundry's on its way… I hate having to sew damaged clothes… damn I hate paperwork… why can't everything get magically done?

Anyway. Gonna go pass out now. Thanks to everyone for reviewing! I'm glad you all like the HP/AVA awesomeness I'm trying to create here. I've been very disappointed with the other HP/AVA options since AVATAR's release, so I finally decided to just post something. One more project won't kill me… probably…


	3. Chapter 3

**Azure Light**

~A~

He heard thunder. Or rampaging buffalo… wait, there weren't any more buffalo… what?

Groggily opening his eyes, he saw that the lights to his room were still on. And someone was pounding at his door. Too lazy to get up, he rolled over and put a silencing bubble up around himself. He was too tired to be dealing with this shit.

Drifting back to sleep, he sank back into his (for once) pleasant dreams of colourful lights, peace, and energy.

_Drums. Drums in the earth. He could feel them vibrating under his feet, in his feet, to his very bones. Could feel them like a tick trying to dig its way into his skin, slowly taking out piece by piece until it had created a nest for itself in his flesh. But he had no hands to remove it. Had no wand to blast it off, had no knife to grasp with hands he didn't possess. He was forced to stand there and do nothing, hoping that the tick would learn a better way._

_Only it hadn't. A speck in time, but such pain it had never experienced before. Why did the new decide to damage it? Why couldn't it do as the old had, follow in their path. Why did this child have to hurt that which gave life, when life was so precious? It did not understand._

_Pain. Pain was a feeling unfamiliar to it. It didn't like it, but it kept hoping that the child would learn. Children always learned, eventually._

_But these were not its children. They were children of another. Would they learn? They could learn. All could learn._

_They must-_

"-stone! Dr. Blackstone! Can you hear me?"

Harry pushed away the hand that kept poking at him and tried to roll over, only to fall off the bed and onto the floor. Or rather, gurney. What the… where was he?

"What happened?" he asked groggily, looking around what appeared to be a hospital. He hated hospitals. Not to mention the fact that they might find something… wrong with him. So far most science was unable to discover that he had some… dying issues. He tested himself regularly by sneaking into labs available to him, but they were never able to pick up on his magic or discover anything in his blood that gave away to his immortality. His cells died and replaced themselves just like everybody else's, but they just never got any older.

"You were… well, we were worried you fell into a coma after the cryo. It's rare that it happens, but some people react rather violently to it. A very small percentage, but enough to raise concern when one of the assistants failed to wake you up this morning."

Oh right. The pounding on his door. "I was just… really tired," he explained groggily, pulling himself to his feet. One of the scientists, doctors, whatever they were, helped him get seated back on the gurney.

"I'm just going to do a few tests before letting you go, alright? Dr. Augustine said she wants you at the best of health. She planned to take you out on a trip today, but she's thinking of postponing it until-"

"That is unnecessary," Harry said, looking straight into the doctor's eyes. He wasn't putting off checking out this planet or driving a real AVATAR for anything, even his 'health'. He never got sick. He was just a little tired. "I will leave immediately," he said, sliding off the gurney and standing on his feet.

"Oh no you don't. While you're in this medical bay, _I_ am boss. You aren't leaving until I deem you healthy."

Harry growled softly to himself and sat back down on the gurney, giving the doctor his most irritated eyes. The man didn't even flinch. Bastard.

An hour of tests later, Dr. Augustine finally walked into the room with an annoyed expression on her face. "Well? Is he alive? Let's get the show on the road, Doctor." Two people had followed behind her, both wearing curious expressions. One sat in a wheelchair while the other's expression brightened with recognition.

"Dr. Blackstone! Hi!" Norm said with a smile, waving his hand.

Harry half-smiled back and inclined his head. "Hello." His eyes flickered to Dr. Augustine. "This kindly doctor refuses to let me leave his clutches, I'm afraid. I would have walked out an hour ago, but apparently he is King of the Med Bay." He inserted a mocking undertone to his voice and was pleased when the man's expression finally pinkened slightly with embarrassment and annoyance.

"He seems pretty healthy to me, Doc. How about you let him go, do your tests, and if anything's wrong you get back to me. Come on, Harry, you've been holding the rest of us up for long enough. Couldn't get out of bed this morning?" she jabbed at him with a grin on her face.

Harry slid off the gurney and faked collapsing to the ground only to roll out of the doctor's way and easily slide back to his feet. "It seems so."

"Well if you can move like that, there's obviously nothing wrong with your body. It must be your head. Don't damage the AVATAR with your lack of connectivity." She snorted.

Harry half-grinned, amused. "I would be more worried about damaging the AVATAR with my higher level of connectivity. However, since it was made with my DNA, I doubt it would be a problem. Or do you doubt the very science you helped create, Dr. Augustine?"

She snorted. "Nice try. I have no part in DNA manipulation. I'm a botanist."

"Just a botanist? Surely not."

She jabbed him with her elbow and Harry moved with the blow easily enough, definitely amused. Who would have thought she'd have a sense of humour? Well, a poking sense of humour. Liked dishing it out and could take it just as well.

They slipped into silence and Harry had a moment to think about things. Why was he being so interactive? He couldn't seem to stop himself, he was almost… excited. Excited about all the new things ahead of him. After being stuck on the little-changing Earth for so long, the idea of exploring something so alien, new, and fascinating… it had his adrenaline pumping through his veins.

"And this is the bio-lab," Dr. Augustine said, leading them through a room filled with three empty tanks. "This is where your AVATAR was grown," she said in passing, pointing at the empty canister as they blew on by. "The link room's ahead. You'll get pretty familiar with it in the next six years you're here, unless you decide to stay longer. Some do."

Norm grinned, finally getting over his hero-worship of Dr. Augustine enough to say something beyond 'hi'. "It's too bad you didn't get to see the AVATARs in their tanks yesterday. It's kind of neat seeing them from the outside before you become… one with them, I think."

Harry smiled and kept walking, careful not to block the man in the wheelchair from getting into the room. "I slept as soon as we got off that ship. Didn't want to get up this morning and all of a sudden I wake up with this crazy doctor over my bedside, wondering if I broke something in my brain on the way over." He snorted.

Norm and the guy in the wheelchair laughed, and Harry decided it was about time he acknowledge the guy's existence. Turning to him, he held out a hand. "Sorry the introduction's a little late. I'm Dr. Harry Blackstone. You can call me whatever the hell you want."

The guy with the army hair cut smiled. "Jake Sully. Nice to meet you, Harry. Just Jake's fine."

Harry inclined his head. "I take it you're an AVATAR driver as well? I thought most of them were scientists." Seeing the pinched look in the man's expression, he backtracked. "Personally, I think it's rather advantageous to have a Marine in an AVATAR."

Grace scowled. "Really now. Isn't that peachy keen. In case you didn't know, Dr. Blackstone, Jake here is in fact replacing his brother, Tom, who was the PhD who trained for this mission. So, we're short a researcher. Hope you don't mind doing a little overtime."

Harry just smiled. "I don't mind, Grace. Like I said, a Marine can often expose an interesting perspective to something you haven't thought of before." He traded a respectful nod with Jake before walking over to Grace. Harry was lucky in that he had seen the world from both sides of things, from that of a soldier and that of a scientist. There were many things that both were ignorant of, and hopefully his presence here would help reduce the hostility he could sense between Jake and Grace. For Jake to be replacing his brother with an AVATAR created specifically with DNA of the person to drive it, that must mean they were twins. And for Jake to be replacing Tom…

He felt bad for Jake. Not only was he in a hostile environment that he (probably) hadn't been trained for, but his superior officer was giving him crap for not being as smart as his dead brother.

"Norm, how much link time have you logged?"

"About 520 hours."

"That's good. You're in there," Grace said, jerking her thumb at one of the links they passed by. "Harry, you're here. Jake, this is yours. How much have _you_ logged?"

"Zip. But I read a manual."

It was only Harry's copious self-control that kept him from snorting in laughter at the look on Grace's face. "Tell me you're joking."

But Jake was enthralled by the same squishy Harry was currently poking. "This is cool."

Harry couldn't agree more, hopping up on his link bed and half-smiling at the woman hitting buttons on his link's control pad. Pulling the metal skeleton covered in white lights and cords, he closed his eyes and pulled his magic tight into himself. If he wasn't careful, it would disrupt the connection between his nervous system and the sensors of the link, screwing up the transmission to his AVATAR.

It worried him with how easily he could break it. Five years of meditation in space had helped him strengthen his control and shields, and now that there was enough ambient energy in the air, his magic no longer seemed to determine every single piece of technology as a threat to its existence.

The last thing he needed was his consciousness floating in nothingness as his body exploded and blew up the whole RDA base.

"Let's go," he could hear Norm say excitedly.

"Don't, I got this." What was Jake talking about? Harry couldn't really see it from here. Maybe- ah, his legs.

"So you just figured you'd come out here, to the most hostile environment known to man, with no training of any kind, and see how it went? What was going through your head?"

Harry wouldn't mind knowing that himself. It wasn't every day you saw a paraplegic jumping onto the front lines.

"Maybe I was sick of doctors telling me what I couldn't do," Jake shot back.

"Link two is ready," Harry could hear just as the lid of his link closed over top of him. Guess that was him. Closing his eyes as he had been trained to do in the simulator that used a robot instead of a flesh and blood AVATAR, he calmed his mind and ordered his magic to behave. It seemed content to curl up inside him, for once.

Next thing he knew, he was sliding through white lights.

~A~

"What a gorgeous brain, nice activity." Max commented, looking at the data pad covered with Jake's neural network.

Grace gave him an unimpressed look. "Huh. Go figure."

"Um, Dr. Patel? You might want to take a look at this."

The two doctors frowned and turned to the assistant currently frowning at her screen. "What's wrong?" Max asked, walking over to the woman in control of Harry's link.

"Well… I… I've never seen something like this before. I mean, it's in his files that he has a rather interesting neural network with a higher than average activity level, but there's never any record of… _this_ happening on Earth during all 500 hours of his link time."

"Well, what is it?" Grace asked Max, who at the moment was staring at the screen with a frown.

"This doesn't make any sense. It's… Like he's gone."

Grace gave him an impatient look. "Gone where? There's no where to go but into the AVATAR, Max, you know that."

"Yes well… he's not linked with the AVATAR. He's linked with something else."

~A~

_Floating. It felt like he was floating in a sea of coloured lights. He could feel everything, the feet trampling his surface, his children returning to him, children leaving him, a constant influx of information and experience from those returning. It was wonderful, it was beautiful, it was…_

_Wrong._

_He had no children. He didn't know how he knew, he just… knew. Just like he knew no feet trampled his surface. He had no surface, he… he was…_

_What was he? He couldn't remember. But he did remember a pain. A pain so strong and terrifying that it had driven him to leave. But leave what? What had he left behind? What had he forgotten?_

_~Leave what is forgot. Join us in peace, child. You have lived for far too long.~_

_He frowned. He had lived… Yes, he had lived. A long life, a life better forgotten in favour of this peace, of this warmth, of this… salvation. He wanted it._

_But it was wrong. Why?_

_~It is right. Join us, child. Your experiences will enrich us.~_

_Us? Who was 'us'? He didn't want to cease to exist. Didn't want to get swallowed into nothingness, didn't want to suffer an eternal torment too terrible to put into words-_

_~There is no pain. Join us.~_

_But there _was_ pain. He could feel it gnawing at his feet, digging holes with drills and explosives and pulling pieces of bone out of his decimated skin._

_~It is a lesser pain. It will leave us.~_

_Why would it leave? It wouldn't leave. The humans would leave until they had gotten all the unobtainium that they wanted._

_Confusion. ~It will leave. Join us.~_

_No, it wouldn't. He wouldn't. He _knew_. Knew the nature of the beings that had destroyed the home he came from. Knew it to his very bones that they wouldn't stop until this beautiful and peaceful place had been torn asunder as well._

_The voice remained silent, convinced in its experience that it was right and Harry was wrong. That nothing could destroy it._

_For the first time, Harry knew how to speak back. ~Earth thought that once, too. And it did not end well. You will see.~_

_But the voice just continued its litany of 'join us', drawing him close with feelings of peace, happiness, and contented silence. He knew it would be short-lived, however. Could already feel the toxins in the air from the smelting plants clogging the atmosphere and the claws digging into the dirt destroying life on the surface of the planet._

_No, he couldn't join it. If he joined it, he would have no more say in the world of the living._

_And if there was one thing he wanted, it was control of his own destiny._

With a gasp of breath, he woke up.

_-Toki Mirage-_

Heh. I should be packing right now and assembling my passport package, but who wants to do that when you can write all this awesome HP/AVAness? (coughs) (smiles innocently) I'm glad you all liked the last posting! I'm going to keep chapters in this story relatively short, which will enable more quick updates than epic fics like BS. :P Thanks for reading

Oh, before I take off. You all need to read this, if you're a Harry Potter fan. I laughed my fucking ass off. XD

http:/ www. toplessrobot. com/ 2009/08/fan_fiction_friday_hogwarts_and_a_giant_squid_in_f .php


	4. Chapter 4

**Azure Light**

~A~

"-here! Dr. Patel, I think he's waking up. Dr. Blackstone, can you hear me?"

He could hear snapping to his right, then his left. Opening his eyes, he squinted at the bright lights.

"Pinna response normal…" Bright light flashed in his eyes, and he grimaced. "Pupillary reflex is good. How are you feeling Dr. Blackstone? You feel any aches or pains? Take it easy, please. Your phase-lock was rather abnormal, so we're just going to check to make sure that everything's good before you start running around like Jake, alright?"

Harry frowned and slowly pulled himself into a seated position, gripping his head. It felt like he'd been tossed through the ringer.

"No truncal ataxia, that's good. Do you have a headache?"

He licked dry lips with a dry, sandpapery tongue that reminded him of a cat's. "It feels a little knocked around in here, that's all," he answered honestly. Screwing around with new bodies was _not_ a good time to lie.

"Do you feel lightheaded or dizzy?"

"No, just… a slight ache. That's all. Definitely not at migraine level, though."

The woman in the exo-pack glanced up at Dr. Patel and Grace in the window. "How's connectivity looking, Doctor? Phase-lock appears to be successful."

The dark-skinned man nodded. "Besides a nearly five minute delay in phase-lock where we lost the consciousness, everything seems to be fine now. Dr. Blackstone, can you recall any abnormalities after you fell unconscious in the link?"

It probably wasn't best to tell them that he had temporarily connected with the planet's consciousness. The last thing he needed was them thinking he was insane. "No, I can't remember a thing." Glancing at Dr. Augustine, he could see she didn't believe a word of it. Fixing his face with the most honestly confused expression he could pull off in this hazy state, he returned his attention to his body and his control over it. Wiggling his toes, he stared with rapt attention at the lines on his blue skin. The patterns appeared almost… runic.

"Distal motor control is good. Can you sit sideways on the gurney for me? I'd like to test some finer motor control before you get on your feet."

Doing as instructed, Harry gently kicked his legs as he looked at Dr. Patel in the window, watching him. Grace had disappeared, so he turned his attention back to the doctor in front of him.

"Tap your finger against your thumbs, please?"

Doing the easy exercise with barely a thought, he wondered if he would sync up with the planet every time he tried to enter his AVATAR. If that were true, it would be quite a pain in the ass later, especially if they happened to leave the RDA base of operations.

She ran him through a couple more tests before finally letting him stand, and when he didn't have any problems with that, he was finally allowed to go outside. From the looks of things, Jake and Norm had already gone out when he was… lost in translation.

Wandering into the basketball field, he tried to ignore the woman trailing after him with watchful eyes. Taking in a deep breath of air, he couldn't keep himself from smiling at the fresh air. He hadn't been able to breath real air in so long without a mask on his face… and he could literally feel the planet thrumming beneath his feet.

With a whoop, he broke into a run across the field, absently hearing 'oh god, not again!' coming from the female tech behind him. Running straight for the garden, he found a spot with the biggest brush and just sat himself down in the middle of it, legs crossed, and closed his eyes. Taking in a deep breath, he felt tears sting his eyes. To have known so much suffering, and then suddenly have it all taken away…

He'd never had parents to kiss a bruise better, never had someone to just wipe away all his problems and tell him things would be alright, but sitting here, in this garden, on this planet thrumming with life he hadn't felt in the past two millennia, he just… couldn't contain the joy that it brought him. And so he dipped his head and let the tears go, putting a subtle barrier around himself to keep people away for a while, just for a short while so he could regain his bearings. Could come to terms with the fact that the pain, the constant headache, the never ending agony and screams were gone.

It was nearly dark by the time he could finally force himself to leave the safety of the vegetation and rejoin the rest of the AVATARs. Sending out his senses for the first time in a century, he let himself relish in the feeling of being able to touch and feel and _sense_ life again. On Earth it had been too painful to let that sense go. He'd plugged it constantly to dampen the screams and feelings of death around him.

"There you are. You had us worried," a female AVATAR with braids in her hair and a Standford sleeveless shirt on said with a smile as she walked towards him from a hut made of wood and leaves.

Harry smiled a true smile for the first time in centuries. "I just had to reacquaint myself with mother earth, if you know what I mean."

She smiled. "More like mother Eywa, now."

He blinked. "Ah yes, the name of the consciousness of the planet."

Grace looked at him sharply. "You believe it too?"

Harry mentally backtracked. "Well, I'm a very spiritual person. No reason to believe there isn't some sort of higher energy out there, watching over all of us."

She frowned. "There aren't many scientists left like that, you realize."

He nodded, not saying a word, just enjoying the wind on his face and the smell of plants he'd never smelt before. He felt… he felt like he was home, and he hadn't felt that way in a long, long time.

~A~

Flying. Harry had missed it more than he realized as they flew over Pandora forestry with the masterful pilot Trudy, a black-haired air force captain with enough spunk to fill her copter. Harry had decided he liked her. He could tell she had a good heart.

Grinning at the sight of purple rubber chickens flying through the air over an extremely wide river they were following, he wondered how many different species of animals existed on this planet. He had studied those that Dr. Augustine had managed to document, but there were so many of them and they hadn't even gone near the _ocean_ yet.

Not to mention the trees. They were _huge_. There were certain sizes you expected trees to reach, and then there was _giant_. Not to mention if he were out here in his human body, he would feel even more dwarfed. Na'vi were almost twice the size of humans, after all, and their bodies far hardier. It wouldn't take much for a human to get killed out here in the wilderness.

When they passed over some falls, Harry grew silent with wonder. Such clean, white, sparking water and pure mists… he'd never seen the Niagra Falls during Earth's prime, but he imagined that these would even outshine that landmark.

Finally, they seemed to come closer and closer to the ground, and Trudy manoeuvred her way through the tree branches to bring them to the ground. Jake was the first to jump off, gun in hand, eager as can be. Grace got off with a long-time familiarity, quickly getting Trudy to shut off her engines because they were, apparently, going to stick around for a while.

Norm, amusingly enough, almost forgot his pack on the ship he was so eager to start exploring.

"Stay with the ship," Grace ordered Wainfleet, the only human soldier that had come with them. "One idiot with a gun is enough."

Harry couldn't help but snicker at that, and both he and Jake traded amused looks.

"You the man, Doc," the soldier said with zero complaint, following orders like a good little soldier. Harry had to admit he was glad he wasn't subject to the military chain of command here, not to the extent the soldiers were at least.

Content to be at the end of the party, Harry took his time enjoying the scenery, absently touching the long grass-like leaves of the underbrush and the hair-like petals of a pink flower with purple leaves bigger than his head.

Sharply attuned ears twitched at every small noise… a 'blow on the bottle' mating call, the clicking of insects, the yowling of animals. When a group of Prolemuris swung through the branches above with their four arms and blue and yellow colouring, Jake was quick to jump to their defence and aim his gun at them.

Harry just smiled at his youthful enthusiasm. Unlike them, he could feel the neutral intentions of the monkey-like beings as they happily picked fruit from the trees. Now that he was actually out in the bush, he could finally begin to experiment with his magic again. See what had transferred to his AVATAR body.

It seemed like the magic of this planet was different than that of his own. From what he'd read of Dr. Augustine's research, the planet was a huge interconnected web of energy transfer, almost like that of a brain. It made him wonder if their own planet had ever had the same kind of energy transfer before humans killed off too much of the vegetation to notice.

He'd cast a notice-me-not charm rather easily, but whenever he tried to cast magic on actual _objects_, and not on himself, the energy of the planet disrupted and disintegrated his spells. It wasn't accustomed to energy forming spells and coating bits of itself, so it rejected any kind of change stubbornly. Transfiguration failed. Enchantment failed. Even a sleeping spell cast on a bug was rejected.

It was both endlessly frustrating and fascinating.

"So, how will they know we're here?" Norm asked, snapping Harry out of his thoughts. The wizard assumed he was talking about the Na'vi.

"I'm sure they're watching us right now," Grace answered easily, as if it didn't bother her. Curious, Harry sent out his senses to try to feel for beings of higher intelligence. To his amazement, Grace was right. There were three Na'vi following them from above, high up in the trees.

"Keep moving, Norm," Jake ordered, as the scientist had stopped in the middle of the trail and started looking around the immense foliage above them for any signs of blue. As they were natives to the planet, Harry didn't know how Norm could think he would be able to catch a glimpse of them.

Finally, after at least a twenty minute trek through the bush, Augustine brought them to a stop in an area where water had washed away most of the topsoil, exposing an extensive root system to the open air. Harry watched as they inserted a needle into the root of the tree and watched the firing synapses of the roots through a hand-held device.

"Wow, it's that fast?"

Grace laughed at look of wonder on Norm's face. "Yeah. So, that's signal transduction from this root to the root of the tree next to it. So… we should take a sample."

Harry took a few steps away with a half-smile. She was training him! She didn't seem as interested in making sure that Harry learned, but she was training Norm as if he didn't have a scientific cell in his brain.

Well, most of them had been stupefied out of the poor guy, he was so overwhelmed by it all. Harry, meanwhile, was doing his own 'signal transduction' watching, except with his sixth sense.

"You know, it's probably electrical based on the speed of the reaction," Norm commented around the sample vial in his mouth.

Harry nearly laughed at the look on Grace's face. "Norm, you've contaminated the sample with your saliva."

"…Right."

Seeing Jake beginning to wander, Harry silently followed behind, casting a dampening spell on his shoes. Only, they kept wearing off every time he stepped on a root, or something else alive. Scowling at his shoes, which were making a huge unnecessary racket, he leaned against a tree and took them off.

Letting out a sigh at the feeling of Pandora beneath his toes, he silently slipped through the foliage after Jake, hearing him making a racket. Unfortunately, he didn't get there in time to stop the curious and amused Marine from making all the spiral shoots disappear into the ground, revealing an angry Hammerhead Titanothere.

"_Don't shoot! Don't shoot, you'll piss him off!"_ Harry could hear Grace's voice through their communication devices.

"He's already pissed off," Jake commented, unable to turn his communication device as he kept a grip of his gun.

Grace, now in speaking distance, didn't bother to use her communications necklace again. "Jake, his armour's too thick. Trust me."

Taking a few, slow and easy steps towards Jake, he placed his hand at the Marine's elbow. "Breath," he said softly, sending calming waves into the AVATAR. The last thing they needed was Jake trying to shoot the bloody thing anyway.

Thankfully, Jake put the safety back on his gun and pulled back into resting position, glancing at Harry with a worried look. Now that the scientist was in danger as well, Jake seemed to get even more on edge as the Titanothere destroyed nearby foliage with its hammerhead to display its prowess.

"It's a territorial threat display. Do _not_ run, or he'll charge."

"So what do I do, dance with it?" Jake snapped back, using a bit of humour to try to lighten the gravity of the situation.

While Jake and Grace continued to bicker about what to do to keep the thing from charging at them and killing them, Harry examined his surroundings for an easy way to escape. If it came down to it, he'd probably drag Jake up a tree with him. There was one close by, after all, and Harry had taken his shoes off. It was easier to grip a tree with bare feet, even though the soles of his feet hurt a bit from the lack of calluses.

It was because of this awareness that he was the first to feel something approaching from behind. Before he could mention anything to Jake, the AVATAR was rushing at the charging Titanothere as if he held a bazooka in his hands or something. Staring at the crazy Marine in shock, he was honestly surprised to see the large creature back off.

"Yeah? Come one! What you got! Oh yeah, who's bad. That's right."

Harry stared at the Thanator sneaking up on them from behind.

"Yeah, that's what I'm talking about, bitch. That's right, get your punk ass back to mommy. Yeah? Yeah, you got nothing. You keep running. And why don't you bring back some of your friends, huh?" Jake taunted.

Harry elbowed Jake in the back and the AVATAR finally shut up and turned around.

"Oh, shit."

The Thanator jumped over them and scared the Titanathere herd away from its new prey. Meanwhile, Harry knew how far up the shit creek they were without a paddle. Grabbing Jake's arm, he _booked_ _it _in the direction of the bamboo-like branches he'd seen earlier. Hopefully, those would slow it down enough for them to avoid getting eaten alive.

Harry had never tried dying by being eaten alive before, but he didn't want to try it with this brand new body. He had too much shit to discover.

_-Toki Mirage-_

So, whachu think of that? Ha. Jake is far more funny when you actually hear him say those lines. It's amazing how many times he uses the word 'yeah'. (Has her subtitles on)

So yeah, anything you recognize obviously belongs to AVATAR, blah blah blaaah~ Also, I checked out the Avatar Wiki online and noticed that I have some incongruencies between it and my fic. So, if any of you are obsessed with Avatar and actually read that stuff, I'm going to incorporate whatever I find useful, but I'm not following it all to a T. Hope you enjoyed their first introduction to Pandoran wildlife! Mwahahaha!


	5. Chapter 5

**Azure Light**

~A~

The Thanator literally tore apart the jungle as it chased after them, tearing through bamboo like butter using it's claw-like jaw. Harry tried casting a few spells at it, just to see if it worked, but once again Pandoran biology thwarted him as the magic just disintegrated upon contact. Swearing under his breath, he wished he'd left his shoes on as he slowed them down. It was only luck that let him jump inside the cavernous roots of a tree behind Jake and pause for a breath before the Thanator started tearing through it to get at them.

Letting out a angry shout, Jake shoved Harry farther away from the Thanator, firing off rounds from his gun and yelling at him to run. Unfortunately, it seemed Pandoran predators were smart enough to pull weapons out of an AVATAR's hands. Hearing cursing behind him, Harry ran out from under the tree and tried to draw the Thanator after him by calling it a shit-house rat.

Probably not the best idea.

Cursing under his breath, he made a break for the left and tripped over a tree root. Seeing the gun on the ground, he grabbed it and rolled onto his back, shooting the Thanator in the face. That just made it even angrier however, and it so it decided to remove the weapon by _biting him_.

Screaming in pain at the teeth that sank into his hands, he was completely unprepared to be bodily tossed through the air. Sailing in between the trees, he crashed into the ground and rolled for a good ten meters before coming to a stop. Shaking the disorientation away, he stared down at his bloodied and torn arms with a bit of disbelief.

First day out here and he'd already been badly wounded. He hadn't been hurt like this in… at least three hundred years.

"Hey you piece of SHIT! Over here!" Jake screamed at it as it came after Harry. Fifteen meters away from the downed AVATAR, it stopped and turned around with a snarl. Jake had, apparently, thrown a rock at its head. Roaring angrily, the Thanator disappeared into the brush after Jake, who beat it like a bat out of hell.

Cursing himself for his stupidity, Harry pushed himself to his feet and tried to run after them. Unfortunately, his leg had broken upon impact and he was nearly useless. Biting his lip to keep himself from screaming out loud in pain, he collapsed back onto the ground and focused on his breathing. If he could focus his energy enough, he could probably heal the wound. 'Probably' being the key word.

Refusing to close his eyes, he focused his energy first into his leg to heal the damaged bone. It was slow work. He'd only just started when he heard an angry snarling in the distance, and hoped that that was a sign Jake had somehow managed to escape. Grace and Norm would probably go back to the ship to look for them, so Harry would just have to wait until he could see them overhead.

And then do what? He pessimistically asked himself. There was so much brush that it would be impossible to see one little blue dot, especially since it was going to get dark soon.

Taking a deep breath, he focused his attention back on healing his injuries and away from negative thoughts.

It was slow going, healing his leg. He had to stop halfway through to heal enough of the damage to his arms to keep the bleeding to a minimum. Trying to vanish the blood did nothing, as well, so sooner or later a predator was going to be attracted to his location.

He'd only just finished healing the broken bone when he felt something. Stopping all movement, he looked around himself carefully, trying and failing to catch sight of the disturbance that had alerted his senses. Pushing himself carefully to his feet, he tried to make as little noise as possible, prepared to make a break for it.

He heard it before he saw it, and it was only the instinctual reaction of his magic that kept him from being skewered through the heart. Cursing, he bolted, using his senses to keep track of the arrows chasing him through the brush. This was even worse than being chased by a Thanator, because he _knew_ that it was a Na'vi shooting those arrows.

Unfortunately, Harry had never been trained in the ways of a Pandoran warrior, because it didn't take long for focus to wane and a root to trip him up, resulting in an arrow sinking into his ass cheek. Letting out a shout of pain, he reached around and yanked the stick out of his ass.

What had that been about a neurotoxin that would stop your heart in one minute?

Flipping onto his back, he stared at the Na'vi who jumped down from the tree to watch him die.

~Is this how you greet a newcomer?~ he wheezed, already beginning to feel his heart slow, his mind muddle, and his reasoning begin to fail. He'd never thought to ask what would happen if a driver died inside his AVATAR.

~You do not belong, Demon in a false body,~ the Na'vi merely answered.

~Demon. Been called that before.~

The Na'vi stared down at him with hate-filled eyes, and Harry used his last moments to look the man over. He had shaved the sides of his heads, his neck was protected by wooden beads woven together, and a band of leather protected his vulnerable lower rib cage. Is that where their heart was located, or was it merely a decorative kind of armour? From his weak understanding of Na'vi physiology, their organs weren't organized in quite the same manner as a human's.

His vision was blacking out at this point, so he gave up trying to see the Na'vi and just closed them. He wished he could have been able to get to know the culture just a little bit more before one of them killed his ass.

The world faded into black.

_~You will join us now, join us~_

_He could hear a litany of voices, all calling out to him, telling him to join them, but he didn't want to go. He wasn't finished yet. Hadn't done what he'd come here to do._

_~You will be at peace, warrior. Your strife is over. Join us~_

_Wait… how come the planet kept asking him to join it, when it could just take his soul by force?_

_The voices silenced._

_Frowning, he dragged his consciousness back to his body. Even if his AVATAR body was dead, he should be able to return to his human one if the planet was incapable of just absorbing him. Maybe his magic gave him some protection? Or maybe-_

Air rushed into his lungs as he took a gasping breath, eyes flying back open and meeting a pair of shocked yellow ones merely feet away from him. Reaching up instinctively, he grabbed hold of the Na'vi's braid and _pulled_.

With an angry, pained shout, a blue body collapsed on top of him. Unfortunately, he didn't account for the placement of his own queue, because the next thing he knew the neural filaments had connected and their minds _joined_.

Gasping at the euphoric sensations thrumming through his body, Harry couldn't keep himself from gasping and arching off the ground in pleasure. His body rubbing against the other Na'vi's accidentally, bringing their chests crashing into one another. Harry could feel thrumming pleasure bouncing back and forth between them, throwing his entire world off-kilter and sending tingling sensations down to his toes.

Memories of a childhood he never had raced across his eyes in fast forward. Every friendship he had made, every bond he shared, Harry experienced it as if it were his own, and he could feel his own memories, hundreds of years of pain and sorrow and the endless hope for something more being experienced by the Na'vi on the other end of their line. Could feel the Na'vi's horror at the sight of their destroyed planet, could feel as the Na'vi shared in his pain as he was unable to join with _Earth_, unable to rest, unable to know peace. Could feel the immense entity that was _Eywa_-

With a shout, the Na'vi bodily pulled himself away, jarring their neural filaments apart and causing large bolts of pain to shoot up and into their heads from the delicate nerve endings. Groaning in pain, Harry rolled onto his side protectively, gripping the back of his head in pain. He could hear the man swearing up a storm in Na'vi as he stumbled away, gripping his braid as well.

Their eyes met for one suspended moment in the silence of the brush around them before the Na'vi pulled himself away and disappeared into the trees above.

What the fuck was that?

~A~

Night closed around him suddenly, without much warning. As he could barely see the sky from the deep forestry he had found himself trapped in, it wasn't hard to lose track of time. Moving with every ounce of quiet he could pull from his slowly recovering body, he found a safe nook in a high tree and curled up to sleep for the night. Only, he couldn't sleep. He was so hyped up on adrenaline and the remaining grogginess of whatever cocktail had killed him back there that he couldn't get his brain to shut up.

How had he survived? Was whatever that kept him still alive related to his DNA itself, and that's why the AVATAR didn't die? Or was it the magic that had transferred over into this body?

Then there had been that weird thing with the hair. Grace had told him a bit about what the queue was for, but the Na'vi had never been too keen the share the deeper meanings of its purpose beyond 'we use it to connect with the minds of the animals we ride.'

And so Harry curled up in a hole in a tree, hungry, cold, and more confused than he had been in the past two thousand years. What was it about this planet that spoke to him, and yet baffled him at the same time? Why had his and that Na'vi's minds connected like that? He still remembered pieces of those visions, of those memories… the emotions behind them. It was like tasting chocolate for the first time. You could vaguely recall it's slightly bitter flavour as its aftertaste permeated your mouth, but the sweetness of it was the quickest to fade.

He…. He was hesitant to say he missed it, but he did. That connection with another being… he'd never had that before, even with a regular human. Had given up on relationships with people who didn't understand him, couldn't give him whatever it was that he needed. They were always missing something, some vital element that he could never put his finger on.

But the hate in those eyes… That Na'vi hated the human race with a passion that was deeper than just hate of a characteristic, or hate of a person. No, he hated everything that Harry represented in his eyes. Hated everything the humans had done to his planet. The endless and pointless destruction. Their insanity.

And no amount of talking would convince that man that Harry was any different, and he _knew_ that from the tiny sliver he had gotten to know in that accidental connection of queues.

He stayed in that tree for a day, slipping into a meditative state of rest since he couldn't actually fall asleep. On the night the second day, he had a curious visitor.

It sounded like a squirrel, to be honest, except more of a cooing kind of 'natternatternatter'. And it kept prodding at his clothes no matter how much he ignored it. Finally, he was just about ready to swat it away when he opened his eyes and saw that Na'vi that had killed him merely ten meters away, watching the curious Prolemuris pulling at his clothes.

Harry and the Na'vi stared at each other for a long time, silent, watching, neither willing to break the silence first. Or maybe the Na'vi just didn't care. Or maybe he thought that Harry was some sort of demon come back from the grave.

Did Na'vi have the equivalent of zombies?

~What are you?~ the Na'vi finally asked, bow and arrow at the ready, but making no moves to attack. He had already tried to kill Harry and failed, after all.

Harry held his hand out to the Prolemuris and smiled slightly as the creature happily played with it and made a strange call before returning to its cooing. ~Well, apparently you think I'm a demon.~

He startled slightly when another Prolemuris landed on the tree branch and joined in with the first one, this time playing with the mess that was Harry's hair.

~Demons in a false body die when shot with our arrows. You do not. What are you!~ the Na'vi demanded, brow furrowed with righteous anger.

But Harry just sighed. ~So full of anger and pride. Do your elders not teach you of patience and wisdom?~

The Na'vi bared his teeth. ~You are not of the People. You may not speak to me so.~

~Your tail hairs will fray if you do not balance anger with calm.~

Now the Na'vi just looked confused.

~Will you not leave me in peace to sleep? I grow tired of this conversation,~ Harry said, finding himself disappointed with the constant hostility and accusing eyes. Leaning back against the tree, he closed his eyes and ignored the two Prolemuris as they picked away at his hair, pulled at his clothes, and picked the occasional bug off his skin and ate it.

The Na'vi was silent for so long that Harry was surprised he was still there when he spoke again. ~They like you. Why is that?~

Harry shrugged. ~I know not the whims of such beings.~

One of the Prolemuris yawned and curled up with him inside the nook in the tree he had found, content to share his warmth. Soon after, the other followed. The Na'vi watched this all with disbelieving eyes, but underneath the confusion still lay a deep set hatred that made the nerves behind Harry's eyes ache with weariness.

He fell into another half-asleep meditative state, but still couldn't reach the level of sleep his mind required, and still couldn't seem to reconnect with his real body. He had tried multiple times over the last two days, only to fail miserably and grow more irritable and tired with each passing hour.

Halfway through the night, a particularly loud sound from an animal passing through brought him out of his meditative state, and to his surprise, he could see the glowing dots of another Na'vi nearby. The native who had tried to kill him had leaned back against one of the branches within sight but not close enough that Harry could jump him in the dark or anything.

Frowning at the Na'vi, he curled back up with the Prolemuris and tried to sleep once more.

_-Toki Mirage-_

And so Harry and a mystery Na'vi meet. Wonder what'll happen next! :D

Just so you all know, the Prolemuris is that blue monkey that nearly makes Jake twitch out and go trigger happy on his first outing in the bush. They've got huge eyes and sort of bat-like ears. They're kind of like, flying squirrel monkeys. Anybody else notice the flaps of skin between their arms designed for gliding?

Reminds me of Joe Rogan. "If there were big dick pills, people would be all over it. If that shit was real, cock would grow to be ten times the size it is now, and the pussy would have to adapt. It's gotta fit! The pussy's gotta adapt to its environment. Eventually it would get to the point where pussy was so big they could jump off the top of buildings and paraglide to safety like giant, flying, pussy-people! … If you like that joke, you are pro-weed… I couldn't come up with giant, flying pussy people on my own. I'm not that smart."

I'm paraphrasing, but some of that is direct quote from memory. (rofl) I love that guy. He swears a little too much for me, though.


	6. Chapter 6

**Azure Light**

~A~

The Na'vi was gone when he woke up in the morning, along with the Prolemuris. Shrugging to himself, he forced himself to his feet to find something to eat. His stomach felt like it was digesting itself he was so hungry. Climbing higher into the tree, he saw that he had actually imposed on the territory of an entire pack of Prolemuris. They were literally everywhere!

Seeing one pull a fruit from one of the higher branches of the tree, he carefully began to climb his way up. If he fell, he'd survive. It'd hurt like a bitch though. That was incentive enough to stay alive, he supposed.

The Prolemuris watched him curiously, but showed no hostility just like Dr. Augustine had documented in her research. Finally reaching the top-most branches, Harry settled himself down in the V of a branch within easy reach of a bunch of fruit and caught his breath. His AVATAR body wasn't used to this kind of abuse yet, and his arms were still raw from the bite wounds a few days ago.

Sinking his teeth into the fruit, he hummed happily to himself at the taste. It reminded him of a sweet lemon, except with the texture of a blueberry. He ate almost a dozen of them before he finally felt full, and was content to sit there and enjoy the breeze for most of the day. There was no point in exploring the woods if he was only going to get attacked and eaten by a Thanator, after all.

However, after sitting in the branch all the way until mid-day, he found himself getting just a little bored. Letting out a sigh, he started looking around for something to store food items he foraged in. Seeing nothing obvious, he let out another small sigh, and then mentally smacked himself for his laziness. Magic and technology had made him complacent if the very idea of having to make his own satchel made him this pathetic.

Forcing himself off his feet, he climbed down the branches to the base of the tree, all the while keeping an eye out for predators and anything that might appear rope-like. Seeing nothing in his immediate area, he started slowly making his way through the trees, trying to teach his feet to be quieter, swifter, knowing that if he went traipsing through the woods like Jake had, he'd meet the same end.

Whatever that end may be.

He hadn't seen a copter in the sky yet. Wasn't sure if it was because they were looking in the wrong area or they hadn't even come out at all yet. Perhaps Jake was alright, then, and they had just decided to ditch Harry.

No, he knew Grace wouldn't stand for that. She had too much substance. If Quaritch ordered her, however… the military had the higher level of control in this situation, as the safety of Hell's Gate was priority.

He mentally shrugged. He wasn't going to wait around for a ship to show up when he could be finding food to survive on in the meantime. And then there was the issue of unlinking with the AVATAR. If he couldn't fall asleep, he wouldn't disconnect like the body naturally wanted to. One of the parts of getting to know a new body was learning how to jump in and out of it with ease. Something that just took time, and practice, and no amount of hours back on Earth gave you an inkling of what it would be like to have your own genuine body, bred specifically for you, and the weird things that came with it.

Like the nerve endings popping out of the back of his head.

But he didn't feel like contemplating that at the moment. Thinking of that made him think of that Na'vi, and thinking of the Na'vi made him think of other things, and-

Right. Not thinking.

Slipping down the trunk of the tree, he went in search of a satchel-like object and rope.

~A~

The flora of Pandora was amazing, to say the least. To be honest, the English language couldn't quite cover the amount of beautiful colours he could see through Na'vi eyes. Biologically, the native's eyes were more sensitive to the light than a humans, so while at night a human would only see a slight glow of energy in the plants around them, to a Na'vi it was like an explosion of lights, colour, and _life_. You could literally see the life flow through the soil of the planet.

During the day, the splendour was a different flavour, but no less beautiful. The sun was almost three quarters of the way through the sky by the time Harry found a bell-like plant that was sturdy enough to actually hold something in it. And then it was almost night by the time he figured out how to make a satchel out of it. Three different kinds of rope later, he'd found a vine that was covered in little fibres that helped it cling to the plants it grew up.

Happy with his satchel, he spent the rest of his evening searching for a safe place to sleep for the night, picking some fruit that he saw some of the local animals eating. It was nearly dark by the time he finally found something quiet and out of the way. Sliding inside the voluminous flower, he curled up in a ball and went to sleep.

Only to be rather abruptly awoken the next morning when a Hammerhead Titanothere started munching on his bedding. He fell out of the flower and on to the being's head, and they stared at each other for a split second before the Titanothere freaked out and tossed its head backwards, sending Harry flying through the brush.

Cursing out loud, he kept a grip on his satchel and grabbed the first overhanging branch that came within reach, swinging up and onto it with one arm and nearly dislocating his shoulder in the process.

Yeah, his new body wasn't used to the abuse at all.

Jumping up onto a higher branch, he kept an eye out for predators drawn to the noise of a bitchy Titanothere. Thankfully, none seemed to be in the area at that moment, leaving him to eat his breakfast in silence and… disorientation. He should have gone back to his human body, after finally going to sleep, but…

He hadn't. And that worried him. What if he was incapable of returning? What if his body just 'died' because he wasn't there to take care of it? Surely he had to go to the bathroom, or eat, or drink something. He could go three days if the people at Hell's Gate were too stupid to hook him up to an IV, and longer before starvation would set in. Not that it would kill him, which was exactly what he _didn't want_.

They would know there was something wrong with him if he failed to die from dehydration or starvation, after all.

Cursing softly under his breath, he munched on a soggy blue fruit and tried to think of how to resolve this problem.

Hours later, Harry had tried meditation, sleeping again, even 'sensing' for his body, but nothing had worked. When he'd been on base, popping back into his body had been awkward, but easy, and now… He couldn't seem to find the 'link' at all. Was he out of the link's coverage area? But that was impossible. The portable ones had a definite limit to how far away you could move, but Hell's Gate? There was easily enough power to keep him connected unless he went to the other side of the _planet_. Moon. Whatever.

Scowling, he went in search of more food and a safer place to sleep for the next night. He still hadn't heard or seen any ships flying above. Where the hell _were _they? At this rate, he'd have to transport his _own_ ass back to-

Harry blinked. Could he even apparate?

Frowning at the branch in front of him, he memorized what it looked like briefly and then spun in place, doing what he usually did. Only, it didn't go as it normally did. Instead of the usually squeezed feeling, he felt as if he were being crushed just before he crashed into the ground.

Groaning in pain, he rolled over, completely unfamiliar with his surroundings. Shit. Where the hell had he jumped to? Apparating had _definitely_ not been the best of ideas…

Pulling himself to his feet, he jerked when his hair and neural line brushed with something best left unbrushed. Spinning around, he gaped at the sight, the monstrous sight of…

Pink…

He hated pink.

Eyeing the offensive piece of… pinkness, he took a step back when it _swayed_ towards him, as if it had a mind of its own. When it outright _reached_ for him, he scowled and batted it away.

"What's up? Stop trying to grope me, okay tree? I know you're the colour of love and all, but I don't think I could handle touching all the… pinkness."

It swayed almost questioningly at him, and then reached again.

"I told you, I'm not-"

His brain jarred as something connected with his queue, and just as he collapsed to his knees he glanced behind him to see that the tree had grown a set of brain cells, because there was no way that five strands of that pinkness had slipped behind him naturally.

He couldn't help but collapse completely to the ground as a wave of _consciousness_ swept through him, voices raced through his head, and it felt like someone had punched him in the gut. Reaching up to try to disconnect his queue only seemed to make things worse, as the consciousness could _feel_ his intentions.

_~Join us, lost one. You will find a home here~_

Getting irritated, he spoke back. _~I will join you when I am ready, and not before then. Now, please stop, you are _hurting_ me.~_

Abruptly, the consciousness pulled back, and the pain in his head wasn't quite so skull splitting and more nail-driving.

_~Why will you not join us now?~_

_~My life experiences aren't yet over.~_

_~You have lived too long already~_

_~I have much left to do. Let me do them, and I will join you when it is my time.~_

_~I decide when it is time~_

_~Not for me, you don't. _I_ decide.~_

_~… Very well, undying one. We will wait~_

And just as abruptly as the consciousness came, it left, his queue disconnecting from the strands of pink and letting him sink into unconsciousness.

Only to abruptly open his eyes and see nothing but gray and green lights. It took his mind a moment to realize exactly what had happened, and when he did, he threw the lid off of him and sat up.

Or tried to sit up. Instead he got partway up and then rolled right out of the link and onto the floor with a loud _thud_.

"Grace! Grace, he's back!"

Harry groaned and opened bleary eyes. When he saw Dr. Patel inches from his face, he closed his eyes again. "Hullo," he rasped, trying not to groan in pain from the Attack of the Penlight.

"Jesus. We thought Jake was bad, but you've been in the link for _two and a half days_. Where the hell is your AVATAR?" Grace asked, her usual bitchy self. When Harry peaked open an eye however, he could see the lines of worry around her eyes.

"It's safe. I don't know where. I just… passed out." He wasn't sure it was the best idea to tell them that he had problems getting out of the link. If they knew that, they might not let him jump back in it so eagerly.

"So you finally found a safe place to stay?"

Now that, Harry wasn't sure of, but he doubted any animals were going to be cruising by that pinkness. "I think so."

Grace let out a breath and gave him a very unimpressed look. "You, young man… what am I going to do with you." Shaking her head, she stalked away back to wherever it was she went to study her trees.

Harry felt slightly guilty, since he hadn't done any research yet and he'd been brought here to _help_ her.

"Oh, you're back!" a familiar voice said from the doorway to the link room. Harry blinked at the sight of a happy Norm. "We thought you got lost or… died, or something. You didn't, did you? Die, I mean?"

Harry gave him the most innocent smile he could muster. "Of course not. I'm here, aren't I?"

~A~

Harry wasn't so eager to get back in the link, but unfortunately the Higher Powers had deemed that his AVATAR was too valuable to just leave wherever he'd left it. Upon meeting Selfridge up on the bridge and describing the place he had landed his ass in, however, Grace's eyes had widened.

"Impossible. How did you- That's a sacred place! If the Na'vi found you there, they'd kill you on sight!"

Not that that would work, but Grace and Selfridge didn't know that. "Uh… where is this exactly?"

"It's one of the Na'vi's most sacred places. I've seen pictures, but… Are there tall rocks curving above the tree, or just regular brush?"

Harry stared. "Just bush?" He didn't remember any rocks…

"You're probably at the Tree of Voices, then. It's the closest place I can think of. You'll have to leave there as soon as possible, however, or they might kill your AVATAR. I'll take a team to come pick you-"

"With all due respect, Dr. Augustine," Quaritch said, having just arrived and heard part of their conversation, "I don't believe it would be wise if _you_ were to go. If he's in some 'sacred' location, then the locals might be a little less eager to co-operate, and we need that AVATAR body back." His cold blue eyes snapped to Harry. "I think it would be best if I sent a team of Marines to pick him up."

"And what if you ran into the Omaticaya? The last thing we need is you waving your machine guns around and causing even more problems with our diplomatic relations."

Quaritch snorted. "In the interests of the company-"

"In the interests of _all_ those involved-" Grace interrupted.

"How about we all just _calm_ down, I get back in the link, and get the hell out of this sacred place. The more daylight we burn here, the greater the chance that my AVATAR is discovered at the Tree of Voices." He'd read about the tree of souls, but at the time that Dr. Augustine had sent her last transmission back to earth, they hadn't managed to get any pictures of it because of the dense foliage.

Quaritch eyed Harry like he couldn't decide he liked him or wanted him to burn at the bottom of some Pandoran abyss.

Selfridge finally broke in. "That sounds like a good medium. Dr… whoever you are, go do your thing, and Quaritch will have a search and rescue team ready to locate you." Grace opened her mouth. "Since it's only a pick up and there will be no communications with the blue monkeys, there's no point in you going."

Without a word, Harry got up and headed back to his link.

"Now wait a minute," Dr. Patel began, seeing Harry heading back for the link. "You're not cleared to link again, yet. You need to eat and drink something! You can't neglect your real body."

Harry sighed. "You got any ration bars and a bottle of water floating around? This is kind of an emergency."

Dr. Patel frowned, but dutifully dug in his pocket and produced two plastic wrapped bars of protein goodness. Calling out to his assistant to get some water, he turned his attention back to Harry. "Are you feeling alright? You were in that link for a really long time. You were incredibly groggy and disoriented when you first pulled out."

Harry smiled. "I feel fine," he lied. Truth was, his brain still felt like soup, though at least he got to do without the queue ache. "Water and feed me, and I'll be ready to go."

Grace snorted, having finally followed them into the link room. "Selfridge only cares about his money," she said with a scowl. "Stay safe out there, alright? Your health _here_ is more important."

Harry's eyebrows raised slightly. Wow. She was actually concerned for his health. Was it just because he was one of her researchers and she didn't want to do the work herself, or did she actually care about another human being? It was hard to tell with a woman like her. She didn't show much. "I'll do my best, Grace, but I can't make promises I can't keep. This is Pandora we're talking about."

She nodded and watched him scarf back his ration bars and water with a blank expression on her face. He could see her eyes churning with thought, however. Grace Augustine always had something on her mind.

He grinned once he finished, nearly choking on the dry nastiness of the bars. "See you on the other side."

She raised an eyebrow. "The other side of what?"

But he'd already closed the link on top of himself and closed his eyes. As soon as the psionic link was established, his consciousness was whisked away into coloured lights.

_-Toki Mirage-_

So. On the airplane right now, typing away. Baby next to me is at least a happy one. :) That's aaall that matters. Cuz once they start screaming, they never stop, I _swear_.

Anywho. I have the worst day of flights ahead of me. Stuck in one city for 7 hours (gonna watch a movie with family), and then a redeye cross the country. Yay. I'll post this once I got internet.

ALMOST BACK TO SCHOOL! WOOT! :D


	7. Chapter 7

**Azure Light**

~A~

Harry opened his eyes and immediately wished he hadn't. Not only was he surrounded by angry natives, he was surrounded by angry _armed_ natives. Slowly raising his hands defensively, he sat up off the ground.

~Why are you here?~ A warrior asked him, eyes filled with hate. ~You should not be here!~

Harry raised his hands just a little higher. ~It was an accident. A mistake. I am lost.~

~Lost? Your kind has been wanting to come to these sacred places for a long time, and we have refused. Now you come here and desecrate it so!~

Harry frowned and looked around him. Nothing looked broken. ~I haven't desecrated anything.~

~Only the Omaticaya are allowed to listen to the Tree of Voices! How dare you come here and-~

~Hey! Your tree joined with me first. I didn't want to listen to it at all,~ he tried to explain.

~Then why are you still attached?~

Harry frowned and looked behind him. Sure enough, the Tree of Voices was still attached to his queue. Of course, according to this Na'vi's point of view, _he _was attached to _it_. Shit. ~Look, it was an accident. I was just walking, trying to find a way out when-~

~Enough excuses! We will take you to _Tsahik_, and she will decide what to do with you, _demon_,~ the Na'vi snapped, flashing his teeth. The two other warriors with him hissed as well.

Well, this suddenly got far more interesting.

They restrained his arms behind his back with an interesting series of knots, making it impossible for him to escape. He could try casting magic, but that hadn't exactly been the most… reliable of resources thus far on Pandora. Doing his best not to trip and fall on his face, he wondered if he would have a moment to tell Quaritch to hold off on the rescue. Actually… telling him he'd been kidnapped was probably the _worst_ thing to do at this point.

Ignoring all the ululating of the natives, he instead tried to memorize where they were going in case he needed to make a quick escape in the future. Unfortunately, there was so much flora that looked similar to everywhere else on the planet that there was little to no way to distinguish one direction from another.

Though, for some reason he could still strongly sense where the Tree of Voices was, as well as a similar energy in the distance. He hadn't recognized that particular wavelength of energy as being different before, but now he could as easily tell the rest of the forest from the Tree of Voices as he could distinguish red from blue.

Pulled inside the largest tree he'd ever seen on this planet, Harry couldn't help but admire the unintentional architecture of it. A spiral on the inside made it easier for the Omaticaya to go up and down. Wondering if the planet's consciousness had enough intelligence to do that on its own, he was thrown to his knees in front of a woman with long hair braided in front of her covered in feathers, beads, and coloured wood for accessories and clothes. What looked to be a cloth draped around her shoulders and tied together at the front.

~Meytari, why have you brought this dream walker here?~

The warrior bowed his head to her in respect. ~We found him at the Tree of Voices, _Tsahik_.~

Her eyes widened slightly in righteous anger. As she began to pace around Harry, the warriors took a few steps back to give her room. ~Why have you come here?~ she demanded, meeting his eyes like an unmoving stone.

Did she want to know why he had been at the Tree of Voices? Her question had been rather vague… ~Why have I come to this world or why did your warriors find me at the Tree of Voices? Which question would you like answered?~ he asked in nearly perfect Na'vi. By the way her brow raised, she was slightly surprised.

~You will answer both,~ she demanded, coming to a stop in front of him.

Harry nodded. This was a woman to respect. A _Tsahik_ was the spiritual leader of a Na'vi tribe, after all. In some matters, she even vetoed the head of the clan. ~I came to this world because I could no longer bear the cries of my own dying world. The Sky People have nearly killed her, and I could not bear with the suffering any longer.~

She frowned. ~Sky People do not hear the cries of Eywa. Did they hear the cries of their own Mother and continue their insanity?~

Harry closed his eyes. ~The Sky People who once could hear the Mother died a very long time ago. I am all that is left of them.~

Her eyes widened. ~You were _Tsahik?_ Interpreter of your Mother?~

He shook his head. ~I was not part of a clan as you are. The Sky People are too large of a clan to have use of one like me. They believe in their ways, and refuse change. Refuse reason. They consume that which they desire, until there is nothing left.~ While morbid, it was his thoughts on the matter. Humans were a race that resisted change, resisted reason, and only cared about things that mattered to _them_ and not others. To the Na'vi, they were a conundrum.

Mo'at frowned. ~You do not like your own people.~

Harry closed his eyes in sadness. ~_My_ people died a long time ago.~

~If you are not Sky People, then what are you?~

~I… am Lost.~

~You are of the Lost People?~

~…Yes.~

Humming thoughtfully, she pulled a wedge-shaped object out of the hair decoration that hung below her chin and then, abruptly, poked him in the chest with the thing. Holding back the grimace of pain, he watched in confusion as she tasted his blood on her tongue.

She nodded. ~You are different than Sky People, yes, Lost one. Now, answer the second question.~

Harry inclined his head, not sure exactly what sort of test that was supposed to be. ~I was trying to go home, but I accidentally found the Tree of Voices. When I tried to leave, one of the…~ Not knowing the name for it, he made a motion with his hand to imitate the flowing strings. ~It connected with my queue, and… I did not mean to. I tried to leave, but… it was an accident.~ He bowed his head. ~It was not my intention to disrespect your sacred place. If you would like me to leave, I will, but could you please point me in the direction of the Sky People's place?~

Mo'at tilted her head. ~You would return to them when they are not your people?~

Harry shrugged the best he could in his bindings. ~I have nowhere else to go.~

She hummed thoughtfully again, walking a circle around him and examining his queue. ~This Voice you heard… what did it say?~

~Join us, it kept asking me. And I have had… dreams.~

Mo'at came to an abrupt halt in front of him. ~Dreams?~

He nodded. ~Yes.~

She grabbed his chin and examined his eyes. ~You are in a false body, are you not?~ He nodded. ~Can you hear the Voice in both this body and the other?~ Harry nodded again. ~Come,~ she said, motioning with a hand for him to follow her. When the warriors made to follow, she shot them a glance. ~Alone.~

The warrior who had captured Harry looked like he wanted to argue, but Mo'at just narrowed her eyes at him and he backed down. Following behind her awkwardly without two arms to balance himself, he wondered where she planned to take him.

~We have yet to meet a dream walker who Sees,~ Mo'at began as they walked out the back of the tree and into the woods. ~And not only do you See, but you Hear as well.~

~Are you referring to Eywa?~ he asked hesitantly.

She inclined her head. ~Yes. Eywa is the Mother of all on this world. I will see if you can hear as I do. If you fail this test, you will return to the Sky People. If you pass… you will have the opportunity to learn to be _Tsahik_.~

Harry stared at her. ~Is it not the women of your people who learn to be _Tsahik?_~

She nodded and came to a stop. ~Yes, but you are not Omaticaya. Nor are you Na'vi. I will teach you, and if you learn well, you may become one of The People.~

Harry's eyes widened slightly. She would let him… he had the chance to… Unable to find words, he bowed his head and continued to follow her silently through the wilderness.

After a good twenty minute trek, Harry could see pink in the distance. Opening his senses, he couldn't help the flashback of pink, overbearing consciousness trying to convince him to die.

He was never going to look at the colour the same way again.

~Can you feel Eywa from here?~ Mo'at asked, running her hand along a mushroom-like plant that had little hair-like protrusions around its diameter.

~I can tell that we are going to one of the sacred trees, yes. But Eywa… I can feel her all the time.~

Mo'at glanced back at him, but Harry couldn't read her expression. ~Can you speak to her?~

Harry frowned. He'd never actually initiated contact with the consciousness of this planet before. It was always Eywa trying to call him, get his attention, and highjack his transportation. Kind of like an overbearing girlfriend. ~I do not know. I have not tried.~

Mo'at nodded just as they finally left the brush and entered an open, cavernous space. It was gorgeous, to say the least. The tree lay in a depression in the ground that almost looked as if a large beast had stepped there and continued walking, leaving a seed in its wake, and large stones protruded above their heads like a rib cage bursting from the earth. Scientifically, it made him wonder what kind of geological shifting could produce that kind of formation.

~Come,~ Mo'at gently ordered, beginning her trek down the stone with a grace that Harry had yet to acquire himself. Perhaps after some time exposed to real Na'vi, instead of AVATARs, he would pick up some of that grace and familiarity with the forest.

When finally they arrived at the base of the Tree of Souls, Mo'at motioned him to sit. Taking her queue in hand, she held it to the earth and Harry watched in fascination as she connected with the roots of the pink tree.

~Eywa is all around us, protecting the balance of life. She provides for us, and we return that which is given. If you are to be _Tsahik_, you must understand this balance more deeply than most of the People.~ When Harry nodded his head, she motioned for him to take his queue and attach it to the ground as well.

He was hesitant to do it. Eywa had pulled funky shit on him before, and the last thing he wanted at that moment was another endless litany of 'join us, join us'.

Seeing that Mo'at was beginning to get impatient, he closed his eyes and attached the queue, hoping nothing _too weird_ happened.

But… to his immense surprise, nothing happened. Oh sure, he could feel the planet, but she wasn't overwhelming him like she had done on previous occasions, nearly shorting out his brain. No, this time she was… a comforting presence.

When his eyes opened in the link room, however, and he could still 'see' Mo'at sitting in front of him over top of his human vision, he knew he had spoken too soon.

_-Toki Mirage-_

Whoaaaa dudes. One hour of sleep on the plane. Slept through Iron Man 2. Btw, Expendables is a pretty good movie if all you want is an action movie with a lot of explosions and just enough plot to make it interesting. I liked it ]:D Mweheheh

Currently sitting in an airport restaurant, letting the batteries charge. I feel like my brain is just waiting to melt. (makes gurgling noises) Let's see how long I keep my sanity today. I get… weird, when I don't get sleep….


	8. Chapter 8

**Azure Light**

~A~

"_He's back, Grace! Dr. Blackstone just came out of link."_

~Are you alright? You look disoriented from the connection with Eywa,~ Mo'at asked, brow furrowed in concern.

"_Good. I need to talk to him about-"_

"_Not before I'm done talking to him." Quaritch came into the room, scowl on his face as he grabbed Harry by the front of his labcoat. "You weren't there when my team went to pick you up! All we got was a fistful of arrows for our trouble. _Where_ is your _AVATAR?_"_

~Harri?~ she waved a hand in front of his face.

He couldn't remember how to speak.

"_Hello? I'm talking to you!"_

"_Back off, Quaritch. Something obviously went wrong," Grace snapped at him as if he were stupid._

"Give me-" Harry cut himself off. _~Give me a minute.~_

"_Don't speak that crap at me, _Doctor_," Quaritch snapped._

~Harri?~

Harry focused his consciousness on his AVATAR body. ~Please, give me a moment Mo'at. I am… having some difficulties with the Sky People.~

Her eyes widened. ~But- The dream walkers fall asleep when they leave their false bodies.~

Harry shrugged. ~I appear to be abnormal. Probably because I am not one of the Sky People.~

She nodded and closed her eyes to commune with the planet.

_Slap. "HEY! Are you listening to me?"_

_Harry narrowed his eyes. "Give me a fucking minute."_

_Both Grace and Quaritch seemed surprised by his anger_

"_Harry, what's wrong? Why are you so disoriented? The AVATAR isn't dead, is it?"_

_God. What the fuck was wrong with him now? Why had his consciousness fractured like this? Was it his connection to Eywa? _

_Pushing himself upright, Harry sat in the link bed and scrubbed at his eyes. Shit. He could still see Mo'at and the foliage, but his body there thankfully wasn't moving. This was fucked up._

"_Why weren't you at the pick up site?"_

"_Because as soon as I woke up there, the Omaticaya came and captured me for 'desecrating' their sacred grounds." When Quaritch snorted derisively, Harry scowled at him. "I'm currently in the middle of an interview with Mo'at, and she's deciding whether or not to kill me." While not totally truthful, it would hopefully make Quaritch back the fuck off long enough for Harry to figure this shit out._

_Grace frowned. "Why did you come out of link in the middle of a conversation with her?"_

_Harry's eyebrow twitched. It _hadn't_ been his choice._

_The Marine just looked irritated. "If you had left the link sooner for a status report instead of sitting around playing with trees all day, you wouldn't be in-"_

_Harry had had just about enough. "I am under Grace Augustine's jurisdiction," he snapped at the Marine. "I'm not one of your Marines. If she deems it a worthwhile scientific venture for me to 'play with trees all day', then you have no bloody say in the matter."_

_When some of the electronics around them flashed warningly, Harry reined in his magic. Hopefully his eyes hadn't started glowing or something freaky. They were known for doing that._

_Quaritch gave him one disgusted look before spinning on his foot and stalking out of the room._

_Grace, meanwhile, was grinning like a loon. "I'm so glad someone else around here as the balls to tell Quaritch to fuck off and mind his own business."_

_Harry scowled. "Blasted interfering son of a bitch shouldn't have been in my face in the first place. It's not like he was concerned about my safety. All he cares about is the money and getting Selfridge his _rock_." His head was starting to hurt from the split consciousness. He could see Mo'at watching him now, curiously, clapping in front of his face once or twice to see if he would react. The dual, alien and human senses going into one brain at the same time was a little too much for him._

"_I'm going back in," Harry said shortly, ready to close the link._

"_You haven't eaten yet today, and you need to drink something. Why don't you-"_

_Harry gave Grace a look. "I'm in the middle of an interview with Mo'at. I will return later." Hitting the appropriate phase-link switches on the control panel, he pulled the lid back over himself and let his consciousness rejoin his AVATAR body._

Blinking rapidly, Harry glanced around where they were. ~I apologize for that,~ he said, bowing his head slightly to Mo'at.

She just inclined her head, watching him with sharp eyes. ~We will begin with the connection to Eywa. Can you feel her?~

Taking a deep, slow breath, Harry cleared his mind of his recent frustrations and focused on the planet. Her consciousness loomed just beyond his mental shields. ~Yes.~

~Good. Now, tell me what you know of the cycle of life.~

Harry blinked. What, was this some sort of pop quiz? ~The planet gives life, and life returns to the planet. It is a cycle of energy of which all beings are part.~

Mo'at nodded, looking pleased. ~Good. Now, can you feel that balance of life around you, through your connection to Eywa?~

Frowning slightly, he closed his eyes and spread out his senses. But, no… that wasn't right. Drawing his senses back into himself, he turned his attention to the ominous link to the planet floating in the back of his mind. Nervously, he touched it, and gasped when _consciousness_ flowed through his mind, and he could feel the roots under his feet, the Tree of Souls around them, a viperwolf in the distance that was just killed and eaten by another beast, the small growing eggs of a small, tiny being he hadn't seen yet with his eyes… and it was the tip of the iceberg. He could feel an echo of hundreds and thousands of deaths and births and it nearly overwhelmed his mind it was so powerful, he had to pull away.

Gasping, he came back reality to see Mo'at watching him, a questioning expression on her face. He could tell his eyes and expression had slackened with awe, but didn't really care. ~Do you feel this every day? It is so overwhelming.~

She nodded. ~It is both a burden and a gift _Tsahik_ must bear.~ She watched him for a moment longer before nodding decisively to herself. ~You will learn the ways of _Tsahik_. My daughter is the one to replace me when I grow old and frail, but perhaps you will find a place here as well. It is rare to find one with such a gift as you, to feel the planet so easily, with little training.~ She pushed herself to her feet. ~Come. It is time for evening meal with the clan.~

Harry got up, disconnecting his queue as she did, and followed her out of the glowing pink tendrils of the Tree of Souls. The walk back was just as long, but Harry didn't mind as much now. He had connected with the planet and she hadn't swallowed him whole again. It made him feel more comfortable about this whole _Tsahik_ thing.

When they arrived at the small, contained fire that everyone congregated around, the songs and conversation died out to an uncomfortable silence.

~I See you,~ Mo'at greeted, receiving a murmur of 'I See you's in return. She took Harry by the shoulders and led him farther into the large group of people. ~This is Harri. I am teaching him the ways of _Tsahik._~

A flurry of words burst forth from the People, but the loudest of them all was a warrior garnished with colourful and detailed decorations. ~He is a demon in a false body, he does not belong here!~ Harry thought he looked familiar, but his attention was jarred away by the surging mass of bodies.

Next a woman managed to get a word in edgewise. ~He is not one of the People, do you intend to replace me with him, mother?~

Mo'at put up a hand, and everyone fell silent. ~I am neither replacing you, daughter, nor giving him the _position_ of _Tsahik_ of the Omaticaya people. I am training him for he is gifted, that is all.~

The man didn't back down, however, like the woman did. ~He is still a demon. Will suddenly _more_ Sky People be allowed to learn our ways? Was the 'warrior' not enough?~

Even Harry could hear the mocking undertones, and he hadn't been exposed to Na'vi culture for very long. They had a different way of enunciating and pitching different emotions and expressions compared to… Harry's eyes widened with realization. This was the guy! The Na'vi who had shot him and killed him in the forest days ago! Would- would he tell them about that? That Harry was not only a demon in a false body, but apparently couldn't die as well? In any culture the inability to die was viewed as either a blessing or a curse, and usually the latter.

~Jakesully is the first of the Sky People to learn our ways, and he will be the last.~ A confused titter of voices. ~Harri is not_ of_ the Sky People, Tsu'tey, and you know better than to question me.~ Her eyes narrowed as she snapped at him, making him pull back slightly but lose none of his fire.

~If he is not Sky People, then what is he?~

~He is of the Lost People.~ When the Na'vi, 'Tsu'tey' opened his mouth to speak again, Mo'at barked ~Enough!~ and he thankfully quieted and sat back down.

Harry let himself be manoeuvred by Mo'at to sit next to the woman she had called daughter, which happened to be close to Tsu'tey. Harry could see the Na'vi male glaring at him, and tried to ignore it. It was difficult when he knew the Tsu'tey had tried to kill him before.

"Harry?" someone whispered to him.

The wizard blinked and looked around. A finger poked him in the side. Craning his neck farther to the left, almost behind him, he blinked at the sight of a slightly familiar Na'vi face.

"Jake?"

"It _is_ you! Damn, everyone thought you were never gonna wake up for a while there. When did you get your ass to this place? After that Thanator nearly killed me, I thought it turned around and went after you again."

~You see? He knows the demon, so how is he not one as well?~ Tsu'tey hissed quietly under his breath to the daughter of Mo'at, a scowl on his face, thinking Harry couldn't hear him.

Harry chewed on his lip and tried to ignore Tsu'tey's close proximity to himself. The Na'vi hadn't _said_ anything about him being… unnatural yet, but it was probably just a matter of time. "I managed to get away from it, yeah," Harry answered when his silence was too long. "I got lost, though." And shot in the ass. "Couldn't find Dr. Augustine."

"How'd you make your way over here?"

Harry shrugged uncomfortably. "It was an accident, really. I ran into this pink tree, passed out, and the next thing I knew there was an Omaticayan warrior pointing a weapon at me."

Jake made a face before grinning slightly. "Well, I'm glad you made it out. Maybe now you could help me with this language. I totally suck at it."

Harry smiled half-heartedly. "I'm sure you'll get it eventually. It's just like field stripping a weapon. Repetition." Most of Harry's learning had been that way. He wasn't a genius like Hermione, after all, he had to work for every bit of understanding that eeked its way into his head. It was only after hundreds of years of memorizing information that his brain had reached this level. It made him think about the scientific implications of that. If the brain never stopped creating connections and could hold an infinite amount of information without a person going insane, then if the human life span expanded to 200 years at some point, like it had with the wizards, would the general intelligence of the species rise?

The soldier blinked. "I guess I didn't think of it like that. Have you ever handled weapons before, Doctor?" Jake asked, snapping Harry out of his thoughts.

Hm. How to answer _that_ one. He didn't want to be viewed as helpless, after all. "I've had some defensive training," he said with a shrug.

Jake's eyebrows rose. "Really? You wanna spar some time? I'd ask some of the warriors here, but I'm not sure they wouldn't just skewer me by accident."

Harry snorted softly, half amused and half serious. It was true. Tsu'tey probably _would_ skewer them by 'accident'. The Na'vi had made it quite clear how much he hated them both. "I'm sure we could spar a little, if our training leaves any room for such things." He smiled.

Jake grinned and started nibbling on some of the fruits that had been passed around for the evening meal. Turning his attention to the Na'vi, he watched in interest as a group of women and men, probably the gatherers in this tribe, took baskets among the throng of people to allow them to take some food.

"Don't expect them to come to you," Jake warned him. "I had to get food from Neytiri 'cause they completely ignored my existence."

However, just as he said that, Mo'at said something to one of the women and pointed at Harry. The gatherer bowed her head slightly and walked around the fire to him. Crouching slightly, she offered him the basket. Taking a few pieces of fruit and a handful of nuts, he inclined his head to her. ~Thank you.~

Her eyes widened, but she bowed her head and continued on her route around the fire.

~You speak?~ a female voice asked.

Harry turned to the daughter of Mo'at and inclined his head. ~I do.~

~Perhaps you can teach this one to say my name properly then,~ she said with an irritated huff.

Harry looked at Jake and raised his eyebrow. "What's her name?" he asked, jerking his head at the woman.

"Nayteary."

~It's Neytiri. Tirrrrri!~

Harry couldn't help but smile in amusement. ~I see what you mean.~ "Jake, you're not doing the R right."

The AVATAR scowled and shot him a nasty look. "I know, okay!"

Harry just kept smiling. "When you do this kind of R, your tongue is halfway between an L and an R. Put the outer edge and tip of your tongue against the ridge where your gums meet your teeth, and imagine that you're cupping water with your tongue, or a big walnut. Now, take your tongue off just enough so it doesn't touch, and make a sound."

It was close, but not completely correct. Neytiri, though, looked impressed. "Keep practicing. Once you get the tongue placement right, try touching just the _tiniest_ bit and you'll just about get it."

Jake practiced it a few times. "I can't tell the difference."

Harry chuckled. "You will eventually."

"I sound like a retard."

"You already sounded like a retard." He grinned at Jake's expression.

"Hoo, you're gonna get it now. I'm beatin' your ass in that spar."

Harry raised an eyebrow. "Not if I don't knock yourself unconscious first."

"You're on."

~You fight?~ Neytiri asked, hiding her confusion and curiosity easily in her expression, but failing to hide it in her eyes.

Harry shook his head. ~No, we're not fighting. This is… _teasing_. What is a good word… I say unkind things to him, but it is not with the goal of hurting. It is so we can laugh.~ Probably not his best explanation yet, but he couldn't remember if there was an equivalent to teasing in this culture.

She shook her head. ~No, I know banter. However, my question was do you fight? Are you warrior?~

~I am not warrior as you are. I am… trained. But not finished training.~ That was a good way of explaining it, he supposed. Couldn't exactly tell her that he had been a soldier in a past 'life'. They didn't consider Sky People training to be the same thing as _their_ kind of training anyway, though, so there was no point in offending them trying to say he was a 'warrior'. It was just too obviously untrue.

~You fight?~ Tsu'tey crowed loudly, catching the attention of the rest of the People and making the gathering quiet. ~I could break you like a twig.~

Adrenaline shot up Harry's spine. Shit. He'd forgotten that Tsu'tey was here, listening in. What in the hell was the Na'vi male thinking? That had practically been a challenge. Did he want to reveal to the whole clan that Harry couldn't die by stabbing him in the chest again? Or did he just want to beat the shit out of him.

~You are warrior, Harri?~ Mo'at asked.

The silence was awkward. ~No, I am not. I… the training was different, and I did not finish.~ At least Jake couldn't understand a word of what he was saying.

~And why did you not?~ she asked.

Harry resisted the urge to lick his lips nervously. What to say to that… ~I do not like to take the lives of living beings.~

Mo'at nodded her head, as if that made total sense. ~And will you answer Tsu'tey's challenge?~

Harry stared. Shit.

_-Toki Mirage-_

So there, finally got an update. And now it's homework time. T_T


	9. Chapter 9

**Azure Light**

~A~

Harry glanced back and forth between Mo'at and Tsu'tey. Seriously? A challenge? ~Why would you want to fight me?~ he asked Tsu'tey, genuinely confused as well as internally freaking out.

Tsu'tey just stared back at him, not a friendly spark in his eyes. ~You say you can fight. Prove it. I want to see this 'skill' of yours.~

How could he get out of this? ~But I am not training to be a warrior as Jake is.~

~That matters little. All those with a skill contribute to the clan. It is the way of the People. How can you say you are training to be one of the People if you will not do as we do?~

Harry chewed on his lower lip for a second before setting his shoulders and staring Tsu'tey straight in the eye, eyes empty of emotion. ~Very well then. When?~

~Why not now? It shall make good after-meal entertainment,~ Tsu'tey said with a smirk that showed more teeth than amusement. The Na'vi turned to Mo'at, but it was not she who nodded her head in agreement, it was the highly-decorated Na'vi male that sat beside her.

As soon as the acknowledgement was made, the entire clan burst into movement, voices rising in a curious tittering of words that smushed together to create a dull roar.

~Come,~ Tsu'tey instructed, standing and following the rest of the clan down the spiralling staircase to the ground floor of Home Tree.

"Uh, Harry? What's going on?"

The AVATAR driver licked his lips nervously and glanced at the confused Jake. "Tsu'tey has challenged me to a spar. When I told him that I had some training as a soldier, he immediately wished to see it."

Jake's eyes widened. "What? _You_ have combat training?"

Fortunately, Harry didn't have the time to say anything else because Neytiri had grabbed him by the elbow and was leading him towards the staircase. Jake hurried to his feet, pulling at his loin cloth again in discomfort. Harry grimaced at the idea of being forced to wear the same thing.

Tsu'tey was waiting for him in the middle of a circle of Na'vi, flexing his knees in impatience and stretching his upper torso as he fiddled with a knife. Harry frowned slightly as Neytiri pushed him into the circle. ~I'm afraid you have me at a disadvantage, as I do not own a blade myself.~

~Here,~ Neytiri said, tossing the blade at him, handle up. He caught it out of the air and tested its weight and balance quickly. It was a fair knife, considering its maker didn't have all the fancy tools of human society.

Harry looked up and met Tsu'tey's eyes. ~Can we agree on no permanent damage?~

~Would you die, demon in a false body?~

A thrill of fear raced up Harry's spine. How could he respond to that? Fortunately, Tsu'tey didn't give him time to think of anything. Rushing forward, he aimed a quick slash at Harry's chest.

Unused to fighting in this body, Harry dodged to the side and did his best to avoid the following strikes as he adjusted to the rather long arms and legs. Sure, he could walk and run in his own body, but fighting required good physical awareness, and Harry's perception was messed due to the different body proportions.

Thankfully, it didn't take too long before Harry got accustomed to it. Of course, he managed to nicked a few times as a result, while at the same time making Tsu'tey quite angry considering he kept dodging.

Deciding that he'd done enough defence, he slipped inside Tsu'tey's guard during the next assault, surprising the Na'vi and giving Harry the perfect chance to wrap his blade around Tsu'tey's own and with a flick of his wrist, send the Na'vi male's blade flying through the air.

Unfortunately, this just made Tsu'tey snarl, grab Harry's wrist, and nearly break his wrist as he went for the blade. Instead of losing his knife, though, Harry gripped Tsu'tey's forearm and sent him flying over his shoulder. He lost grip of the knife in the process, due to the stress on his hand, but it was better on the ground than in the hands of a Na'vi who wanted to test if he could die.

Kicking the knife farther away, Harry was unprepared for Tsu'tey's quick recovery and subsequent tackle. His back connected with the unforgiving ground with a force that knocked the breath out of him. When the world stopped momentarily spinning, he stiffened at the sight of Tsu'tey crouching over him and the feeling of steel at his throat.

Shit.

Chest heaving, Harry couldn't help but notice the fire that raced up in nerves where Tsu'tey's flesh touched his own. Feeling the beginnings of arousal from both the fight and the way Tsu'tey had dominated him into submission, an embarrassed flush raced across his cheeks.

~You going to kill me?~ he asked, barely moving his lips and speaking so softly that no other Na'vi would be able to hear him.

Tsu'tey's eyes narrowed. ~Would you die?~

Harry swallowed. ~No.~

Something flashed in the warrior's eyes for a moment before he pulled back. He didn't offer Harry his hand, though, which suited the AVATAR driver just fine. Tsu'tey's grip would probably 'slip' and accidentally let him fall on his ass.

Mo'at stepped forward. ~You have many surprises, Harri.~

Tsu'tey, who had wandered in search of his knife, picked it up off the ground and sheathed it in the harness on his chest. The knife in his hand he handed back to Neytiri with a small head nod.

~Which is why I believe it would be best if Tsu'tey were to teach you the ways of the warrior.~

Tsu'tey turned to Mo'at with such a look of horror that Harry almost laughed in his face. Unfortunately, Harry was going to be the victim in this scenario. ~But _Tsahik_, I cannot teach a demon in a false body! He does not understand our ways!~

~Yet. He will learn, just as Jakesully will. You will teach him.~ When Tsu'tey opened his mouth to object again, Mo'at gave him a _look_. ~Enough. It is decided.~ She turned to Harry. ~You will train in the mornings with Tsu'tey and in the evenings with me. Rest well tonight, Harri.~ She turned back to the warrior still gaping at her in a mixture of fury and frustration. ~He is your responsibility now. I have too many duties as Tsahik to show him every aspect of our ways.~ She turned and walked away, the man in the feathers following with a short glance in Tsu'tey's direction.

Harry watched Tsu'tey warily, wondering when the Na'vi was going to snap and slip his dagger into the scientist's ribs.

~At least he can speak, Tsu'tey,~ Neytiri said in passing, leading a stunned Jake away. ~I have to teach _this_ idiot.~

When the warrior said nothing, staring angrily at a wall, she shrugged and continued, dragging Jake with her, leaving the two left in silence and a suddenly empty space. Feeling just a little awkward, Harry fiddled with his queue and the ragged edge of his filthy shirt.

When finally silence fell, the voices of the People dissolving as they made their way up the spiral staircase, Tsu'tey turned his turbulent gaze on Harry. The AVATAR driver said nothing. Tsu'tey's luminescent yellow eyes flickered away from Harry's own for a moment before a scowl twisted his face.

~You are filthy.~

Harry blinked and looked down at himself. Okay, he wasn't exactly a shining beacon of cleanliness, but when you were stuck out in the bush for days at a time and multiple animals tried to eat you, you couldn't exactly come out of it with shining ass cheeks. Before he could open his mouth to comment on this, however, Tsu'tey started walking away. Harry watched him go, confused, until the Na'vi glanced back with an irritated expression and jerked his head in a universal 'get your ass over here'.

Harry followed behind after that, slightly confused as to where they were going but at the same time not willing to ask and risk Tsu'tey's substantial ire. Why'd he have to get stuck with the PMSing Na'vi, anyway? Couldn't Mo'at have picked a different warrior to teach him?

They must have traveled for at least twenty minutes through the growing bush of Pandora before they finally came to a stop at a glowing river. Staring in awe at the sight of it, he couldn't help but admire the beauty of the planet he had managed to land himself on. He'd never explored much at night before for fear of getting eaten, so he'd never seen how the water looked like liquid light. This must be from that glowing algae he'd read about in Dr. Grace Augustine's papers and book. The scientist in him could admire the cause of bioluminescence, but the wizard told that part to shove a tree up its ass. The sheer _magic_ of this place…

~Are you injured?~

Harry blinked rapidly, realizing that tears had been falling down his face. He wiped them away quickly and shook his head. ~No. I was just… admiring the beauty of this place. Earth has been dead for so long that a sight like this often leaves me… aching.~ He gripped his chest, phantom pains of a dying planet coursing through his body.

Tsu'tey walked halfway into the water, watching Harry with a mix of emotions in his eyes. ~Your home planet is dead? I thought that other sky people still lived upon it. That is what Graceaugustine told us.~

Harry shook his head and started pulling off his filthy clothes in order to take a bath, as it seemed that that was why Tsu'tey had brought them there. ~It is dead, and the planet- our Mother… she is… insane.~

Tsu'tey stared. ~How can that be?~

Dressed only in his boxers, Harry slipped into the water. ~The trees, the animals, the earth, most of it has long since been dead, along with her children who were able to speak to her. I… am the last. I have suffered her screams for so long… you have no idea how peaceful it is here for me. How I feel whole for the first time in so many years…~ Slipping down into the water, Harry sat near the shore so he could dig his fingers and toes into the life-filled dirt and plants on the bottom of the river. Closing his eyes, he hummed a tune softly under his breath, not knowing where it came from, but feeling that it was appropriate and suited his mood.

~Where did you learn that?~

A splash of water. Harry opened his eyes to see Tsu'tey standing in front of him, loin cloth dripping crystalline marbles. ~Hmm?~

~That song. It is a lullaby sung to all Na'vi children.~

Harry blinked. ~It is? Oh. I didn't realize. It just… came to me.~

Tsu'tey's eyes narrowed and his hand spasmed, as if resisting the urge to strangle Harry's neck. ~You… make no sense.~ He let out a frustrated cry and slipped farther into the water, casting Harry an accusing and angry look. ~I shot you with an arrow tipped in poison, and yet you do not die. I threaten your life and you do not react. You have a connection with Eywa even though you were not born as one of the People. And then there was the bon-~ Tsu'tey cut himself off, scowl firmly in place.

Harry frowned. ~Bon? Did you mean bond? That time when…~ He trailed off, seeing the look on Tsu'tey's face. Memories that were not his own came cascading through his mind, followed by the voice of an unfamiliar woman singing a song softly to him. ~Your… your mother sang that lullaby to you, didn't she.~

Tsu'tey snarled. ~You should not know these things. The bond should never have worked.~

Harry frowned, watching the Na'vi warrior carefully. ~Are you bothered more by the fact that I saw _your_ memories, or that you saw mine?~ Tsu'tey flinched. It was slight, but Harry had been looking for it. ~What did you see?~

The warrior looked away and swam farther into the river, pretending to clean himself of invisible dirt. Equal parts curious and annoyed, Harry swam closer. ~What did you see?~ he asked softly, trying to catch Tsu'tey's eyes.

Finally, the Na'vi looked at him. ~I saw death. And life. An endless life. You… tried to kill yourself.~

Harry became sombre. So, Tsu'tey had seen him at his worst. ~Yes. I did.~

~Many times.~ When Harry just nodded again, Tsu'tey looked confused, almost lost. ~Why? Life is the gift of Eywa, why would you try to end it before it was your time?~

Harry dipped his head. ~I… cannot die. I've lived hundreds of years, watching my friends die, watching my planet, my Mother being slowly killed and driven insane, and there was nothing I could do to stop it. So I tried to end it. But the one time I was able to join the Mother for a fraction of a moment… it was the worst experience of my entire life.~ More phantom pains spread through his chest, making him grip it as if that would make things all better.

Tsu'tey watched him, but said nothing for a moment. ~And what is the glowing light? I felt it, when we… joined queues.~

Harry blinked out of his dark thoughts and memories. ~Glowing light?~ He thought about it for a moment. ~Oh, that. It's… an energy, inside me. Like the life and energy you can see in the water, in the trees, in the foliage. It was a gift from my former Mother.~

Tsu'tey frowned. ~I don't understand.~

Harry wondered how he could explain it. Cupping his hands in front of him, he called his magic forward. It felt unusual compared to his normal body, but slowly the light pooled between his fingers like molten lava, giving off a blue glow.

While Tsu'tey stared at the light in a mixture of fear and awe, Harry frowned. That was odd. His magic was supposed to be green, not blue.

~What does it do?~

Harry shrugged. ~It can do many things. Unfortunately, I'm not used to using it on Pandora yet. It is a gift from a different mother, after all.~ He hadn't had that much time to experiment, but besides slowly healing himself and creating light, his magic wasn't good for much anymore.

His inattention cost him when Tsu'tey stuck a finger inside the glowing light. Harry gasped as the magic flooded into Tsu'tey, out into his queue, which then attached to Harry's _own_, and then a feeling not unlike sticking one's finger in an electrical socket blew his upper brain function.

They both collapsed, falling into the water with a splash. Unable to control his body, he couldn't stop them from sinking under its surface, Tsu'tey on top of him and their queues still attached. Just when he thought he was going to run out of breath, though, the magic cycling between them created bubbles of air around their heads. Gasping heavily under the stimulation, he was horrified to discover that he was actually getting _turned on_ from this. But it wasn't horror at the fact that it was a Na'vi turning him on, more the fact that Tsu'tey _knew_ it, and Na'vi weren't exactly known for their comprehension of same sex couples. Apparently it was a phenomenon only humans suffered.

Which made him completely unprepared for the way Tsu'tey _grinded _against him.

_-Toki Mirage-_

I know you all hate me, but I'm half conscious after 8 hours total stuck on a bus and then five hours out in the cold wind cheering on a sport that I don't even care about. It's been a long day. I wrote this on the way home.

If there are any mistakes, I'll fix them in the morning.

Cheers


	10. Chapter 10

**Azure Light**

~A~

Harry gasped as Tsu'tey grinded against him, and then got very confused when the usual pleasant sensation was replaced by distinct discomfort. Frowning, he tried to mentally unwrap whatever weird thing was currently making his brain bounce against the walls of his skull.

The first thing he realized before another round of electricity fried his circuits was that Tsu'tey still had his finger inside the liquid ball of light in between Harry's hands. Pulling his magic painstakingly back into himself, the connection very abruptly short circuited.

Tsu'tey's glazed eyes blinked into focus and then looked down at Harry in abject horror. 'Feeling' in his head that Tsu'tey planned to tear their queue's apart again, Harry grabbed his wrists and tried to convey calm down the bond, sending memories of how much it had hurt like a bitch the last time it happened. Tsu'tey wasn't having any of it though, fighting back with every ounce of strength he had as a warrior of the Omaticaya clan. Quickly gaining the upper hand, he pulled their queues apart and blinked when suddenly the water closed in around his face and made it impossible for him to breath.

However, instead of pushing away to the surface, he grabbed a dazed and pained Harry by the arm and dragged him to the shore. With a snarl, he tossed Harry down onto his back and crouched over top of him.

Unfortunately for Harry, the mix of being magically and psychically blown open in the space of a few seconds on top of the abrupt disconnection of a spiritual link of that level was like mixing hard liquor. Usually you ended up puking.

Which Harry did. Thankfully for Tsu'tey, he turned his head to the side as all of his dinner came erupting out of his mouth. Once he was pretty sure he'd finished, he let his head loll the other way. His head felt like it was going to explode. The aching pain behind his eyes refused to go away, and the back of his brain felt as though someone had stabbed a pike into it.

~-ri? Harri?~

Oh, Tsu'tey was talking to him. He opened his mouth to answer, but he couldn't seem to form any words with his lips. Blinking bleary eyes, he stared dazedly up at the blur of coloured lights. Ooh, pretty.

A hand gently slapped his cheek, but Harry just blinked and tried to get his eyes to focus.

~Harri?~

"Harry isn't here right now, but if you'd like to leave a message after the beep. Beeeep." Harry giggled and then promptly started dry heaving again. This time, gentle hands turned his head to the side and his body as well. It was hard to puke when your neck was twisted after all.

Once the remaining bile had left Harry's stomach, he closed his eyes and tried to go to sleep. Unfortunately, those gentle hands turned demanding and kept poking and shaking him. Opening his eyes again, he tried to glare, but couldn't seem to find his assailant's face amongst all the pretty lights.

~Harri. You must stay awake.~

"Bu' I wanna shleep, capt'n."

~Stay. _Awake._~

"B'tomorrow we hava go plant- blow up s'mines. Y'know 'm no goo' with explosives when 'm this hungover." Harry thought he saw his old Captain Briggams just now, but he frowned when his old Captain's face turned blue and yellow-eyed. What? Wasn't he in a camp five miles outside of- where the hell- what the hell- what had he been _drinking?_ He couldn't seem to focus.

~What is wrong with you? You shouldn't- this shouldn't have happened.~

Harry smiled. "That language sounds real pretty. What's it called?"

The blue man stared at him for a moment. ~It's Na'vi. You can speak it too.~

"I dunno. I dun think I can speak somethin' that pretty."

~But you understand what I'm saying.~

Harry blinked, slowly. "Hey, you're right. That is weird. Why is that, Mr. Blue Man, sir?"

An irritated look crossed the nice blue man's face. ~My name is Tsu'tey.~

As if it had been a switch, Harry's brain started spinning again. Closing his eyes against the assault of lights, he tried to reorganize his mind but only ended up re-confusing himself. Frightened and frustrated, he shoved the blue man off of him and scrambled away. He didn't know what was wrong with him, but he thought it had something to do with the strange being standing in front of him.

Scrambling to his feet, he slipped into a defensive stance. "What did you do to me?"

The blue man now looked less angry and more confused. ~I did not initiate the bond. I just touched…~ He trailed off, looking almost as confused as Harry.

The wizard glanced around himself at the strange scenery and the sheer amount of _life_ he could feel around himself. "This isn't Earth. Where are we?"

The blue man frowned. ~I believe you- the Sky People, call it Pandora.~

Harry gripped his head. Yes, that sounded somewhat familiar. Why couldn't he remember? Last he recalled he was on Earth working on three doctorates at the same time in Science, Botany, and Micro-biology. The crystal structure he'd designed to wipe out technology had failed two years ago, and he'd been trying to occupy himself with other things ever since.

"What happened to- to my head? Why am- why are my memories all jumbled up?" Pain kept fracturing his thoughts every time he looked at the blue man, and it was beginning to drive him crazy.

The blue man's frown deepened as he grabbed a long braid that extended from the back of his head and brought it forward. When he held it up to the light, long pinkish tendrils began to dance in the air from its tip.

Harry's eyes widened and he took a step back. "What the fuck is that thing?"

~It is a queue. It allows minds to bond.~ The blue man pointed at him. ~You have one as well.~

Harry tensed. Reached behind his head. Flinched at the feeling of a braid. Pulled it over his shoulder and in front of him and grabbed its end. When he held it up to the light, it started dancing too.

The world turned to black.

~A~

Harry sat up in what he thought was his bed and cursed when his head crashed into what appeared to be a very low hanging bunk. Scowling, he opened his eyes and gaped in horror at what appeared to be the top of a coffin. Banging on it with both fists, he was surprised when it opened without much resistance.

"Bout time you woke up. I was about to send a search and rescue."

Harry's head snapped in the direction of the voice, taking in what appeared to be a set of scrubs or casual military dress and the man wearing them in a wheelchair. Immediately, he relaxed at the sight of familiar human technology, clothes, and most importantly, _humans_. Rubbing his forehead and his eyes, he wondered what the hell that psychedelic dream had been all about. Blue men? Glowing trees?

"Hey, you okay? I know coming out of link can be disorienting, but you look like someone just smashed your head against a wall."

Harry turned his attention back to the soldier. There was genuine concern in his voice, that much was obvious. He also seemed to know Harry, which was odd considering Harry had absolutely no idea who this man was. Of course, _asking_ for a name was one of the dumbest things he could have done. He needed to blend in until he figured out what was going on.

"Yeah, sorry about that. Just have a bit of a headache." Harry smiled and did his best to make it convincing.

The soldier grimaced in sympathy. "Want to head to the infirmary? I'm sure they have some meds for a headache."

Harry shook his head. The last thing he wanted was doctors looking at him. "I'd rather just get some food in me, you know?" he said, gripping his suddenly grumbling stomach with a half-grin.

The soldier laughed. "Oh, do I know _that_ feeling. Come on, let's head to the mess. Hot food finished serving a couple hours ago, but we can always eat the cold stuff." He wheeled away, navigating the row of coffins with familiarity. Harry followed closely behind, ignoring the tech in the white coat that was examining his own… coffin. What were those things for, exactly? They looked a little too high-tech for sleeping in.

"So, what was with that fight earlier, anyway?" the soldier asked.

Harry's mind blanked. Fight? What fight? "I'm sorry?"

The soldier gave him a look. "You know, that fight with that Tsootay guy. Naytiri wouldn't translate or explain anything to me, and then she just dragged me up to bed."

Harry kept all expression from his face. Tsootay? Naytiri? They sounded like foreign names. "What about it?"

The soldier was now giving him an irritated look. "You never told me you could fight. It would be helpful to know, for future missions, since usually scientists don't know how to handle a gun let alone toss a full-grown Na'vi like you did."

What in the world was a Na'vi? "Sorry. I… well, I haven't done much fighting in a long time. Been focusing on… science." Harry barely knew anything about science. He'd only just started studying it, since all of his magical attempts at saving the planet had failed so spectacularly.

"Jake! Harry! Wait up!"

The wheelchair-ridden soldier stopped and turned around. Harry, who had already turned towards the voice, frowned at the sight of yet another unfamiliar man who knew his name.

"Oh hey, Norm. What's up? We were just heading for a late dinner."

The man, Norm, stopped running and heaved air for a moment, making himself look rather pathetic. He was probably a scientist, if Harry wasn't the only one in this… facility. "Dr. Augustine wanted to talk to Harry before he goes to bed tonight."

Harry was beginning to wonder if it wasn't the world that had gone crazy, but if he had _forgotten_ something significant. One, this was too real to be a dream, and two, there was a hell of a lot of mounting evidence that pointed towards memory loss on Harry's part. It wasn't the first time he'd ever dealt with it, either. Perhaps someone had tried to obliviate him? But no, they… were all dead. His thoughts paused. When had that happened?

"Well, we're getting food first, so she's just going to have to wait."

Harry frowned. "Norm… tell Dr. Augstine we'll have to meet first thing in the morning, okay? I'm really not up for having a semi-intelligent conversation right now. I have a headache like you wouldn't believe." Was this Doctor a PHD in medical science or something else? And was it a man or a woman? God, this was so fucked up. What had happened to his mind? He needed to meditate. _Asap._

Norm frowned. "I'll tell her, but she won't be happy. Hope you're feeling better in the morning." With that said, he walked off with a wave, snubbing Jake for the most part. Was there something there that he was missing?

"Don't mind him, he's just a little pissy right now that I got a date with the chief's daughter and you get to learn all about their culture." The soldier in the wheelchair, Jake, grinned and started wheeling away.

This was going to be a long night.

And it was. Harry had had to ask Jake to walk him to his rooms, blaming his headache for the way he was turned around. Thankfully, Jake hadn't made a comment about it, merely looking up its location in some sort of nearby computer database. Harry was completely unfamiliar with this level of technology. He'd thought it weird before, and dismissed it, but now he knew with absolute certainty that there was something _wrong_ with him.

Plopping himself down on the uncomfortably hard bed provided by the facility, he crossed his legs and assumed his usual meditation posture. Taking in long, deep, calming breaths, he entered his mind.

The disaster he came upon nearly stopped his heart, besides the fact that his body here was merely a construct and not actually real. His mind hadn't been this fragmented since- he remembered now. Earth. The muggles had destroyed it. Magic was dying, the sentience of the planet- it had attacked him. No, not attacked. It…

Frustrated with his lack of understanding, he searched through the tears in the fabric of his mind for the memories associated with Earth, completely ignoring the particularly confounded bundle of memories of green forests and glowing water.

Earth… had been dying. He'd been able to feel it, too. But he couldn't feel it now, which was odd. No, he couldn't feel anything at all. It was as if someone had shoved a cork in his magical senses. Actually… his entire magical core was out of whack too.

What _the fuck_ had happened to him?

Settling himself down for the long haul, he slowly started piecing the fragments of his mind back into some semblance of logical order. It was strange how his mind had adapted to the trauma of… whatever it was that had caused this. Anything connected to magic and that corner in his mind with the glowing trees had been affected, leaving him with only half the circuits in his brain functioning and keeping him lucid. If it had affected his entire mind, he had no doubts he would be insane at this moment. If he were anything other than a wizard, he wouldn't have been able to piece this mess back together, either.

Once he'd finished sewing everything back together and using a bit of cocking here and there to seal the leaks, he finally turned his attention to the mangled ball in the corner of his mind. Taking a mental deep breath, he took the plunge.

And promptly opened his eyes. Only, it wasn't his bunk that he saw. No, he was back in the psychedelic world of coloured lights.

Well, shit.

~You are awake.~

_-Toki Mirage-_

Another chapter within a 12 hour period? Oh mon dieu! Hahaha, hope you guys liked the chapter. In answer to some questions about what game – it was football. Er, American football. And yeah, right now I'm procrastinating homework. Surprise. :P


	11. Chapter 11

**Azure Light**

~A~

Harry sat upright and turned to his left, seeing the blue man from earlier. Only, this time he remembered it with the 20/20 vision that his newly reconstructed memories had given him. He was on the moon Pandora, around five years travel from Earth. He'd finally been freed from the screams of his home world.

He'd been trying to reorganize his Pandoran memories, but instead he'd been brought here. Looking down at himself, he frowned at the sight of blue skin. So, this was an AVATAR. But he was only supposed to be able to enter one through one of those Link beds. Why had meditating brought him here?

"You are-" He paused, frowning. ~What is your name?~ he asked in slightly stilted Na'vi.

The blue man looked slightly relieved. What about, Harry had no idea. ~You can speak again. I am Tsu'tey. Do you not remember?~

Harry shook his head. ~No. I am… trying to become… not so confused. Cannot remember everything. Do you know what happened?~

The Na'vi sat back on his haunches. ~I… we… There was a blue light. I wanted to… touch. After that, an… accident happened.~ He held up his braid of hair, and the weird dancing filaments came out again. This time Harry was slightly weirded out, but wasn't in the same state of mind as before. ~We bonded. The light… it was very strange. Our way, it is to bond with a woman when we have become an adult in the clan. Men cannot bond with men. Eywa did not make us that way. I wished to separate our bond, and… pulled our queues apart. I'm afraid that I may have damaged yours.~ He reached for the braid resting against Harry's back and the wizard flinched away. Tsu'tey's expression hardened, but Harry could see genuine regret in the Na'vi's eyes. ~I am sorry for that. It… it is considered a very grave offense to damage the queue of another Na'vi.~

Harry frowned slightly, finding it difficult to read the multitude of emotions passing through Tsu'tey's eyes. ~Well, if it caused all of these problems, I should cut it off.~

~NO!~

Harry flinched back in surprise at the sheer vehemence of Tsu'tey's response. Biting his lip, he pulled the braid out in front of him and examined the freaky ending bits. They did look a little… singed, compared to Tsu'tey's. ~Why do they look like this?~ he asked, turning the braid back and forth to see the sluggish filaments form a different angle.

~I… do not know. The first time this happened, you were disoriented but uninjured.~

Harry started when he realized that Tsu'tey's face was merely a foot from his own, examining the filaments with a stormy expression. ~Wait, this has happened multiple times? Didn't you just say that males do not bond in your culture? Then why has this happened?~

Tsu'tey met his own confused eyes. ~I… had first believed that you did it on purpose, to confuse me after I… but now I do not know. We were in the water. The current could have… and there was the glowing light.~

~Glowing light?~ Harry thought about it. ~You mean this?~ he cupped a hand and let his magic flow into them. Tsu'tey jumped back as if Harry had conjured fire in front of a muggle.

~Put it away! It is dangerous!~

Harry tilted his head to the side. ~It is just… energy. It is not dangerous in itself.~ Changing the pure magic into healing magic without really much thought, he shoved his queue into it and nearly yelped at the feeling that raced up the back of his spine. Oh god that felt nice. A deep rumbling purr made his chest vibrate, and he smiled. It felt as though someone had just sunk liquid heat into the worst knot he'd ever had and was soothing it out like a balm. When the headache that he'd been suffering for the past six hours finally went away, he let the healing magic fade. Still smiling, he held his queue up to the light and examined the shiny new, writhing filaments. ~See? All better.~

Tsu'tey, who had backed away as soon as Harry had brought out his magic, slowly made his way forward again in a crouch. When he saw that Harry's queue was fully healed, he moved with an agility that startled Harry. Taking it from Harry's hands with gentle fingers, he examined it with a critical eye. The filaments, almost as if they had a mind of their own, began to dance faster. When Tsu'tey ran a gentle finger up the side of one, Harry was completely unprepared for the electric desire that raced down from the back of his neck and to his lower regions.

Only, he had thought he didn't have lower regions anymore. When he'd examined himself in the forest some days ago, he'd been rather shocked to find his junk missing. Instead, he'd found a completely smooth pelvis.

But then the primal part of his brain told the scientist in him to shut the fuck up because _damn_ it felt better than someone running their finger up the side of his cock. Arching backwards, the only thing that kept him from collapsing onto the ground was a well-placed arm holding his weight.

Only, instead of keeping going, Tsu'tey stopped caressing his filaments and started watching his face instead. Harry, brought out of his pleasurable high, frowned. "Why'd you-" ~Why did you stop?~ he asked, his words ending in a purr that he couldn't seem to control.

Tsu'tey stared at him for a while longer, his face completely unreadable to Harry's dazed brain. ~I am sorry. Usually it is only a mate or mother during childhood who… do this. As you are a dreamwalker and not Na'vi, I was curious to see if you would react as Na'vi.~

Harry smiled slightly. ~Whatever the reason, you can keep doing that to me all night if you want,~ he said with a purr, totally turned on and therefore upper brain function not exactly functioning at optimum levels. Under normal circumstances, he would never have said something like that.

Tsu'tey touched it again curiously, and Harry hummed happily, his tail flicking with a mind of its own. ~Why would you say that? Do males mate among the sky people?~

Harry tried to get his brain working. ~Uh… yeah. The way that Mother Earth created us, a part of population is… attracted to their own gender. Actually, I think the entire planet was that way. Some scientists did research, and even animals on Earth would sometimes show attraction to their same gender. I take it that's not common here?~

Tsu'tey hummed thoughtfully, absentmindedly playing with Harry's queue now as he stared off in thought. ~No. Eywa did not make us that way. So, why is it that you are… attracted to men in this body?~

Harry purred. ~This body was made by crossing DNA of a Na'vi and a human. So, it takes on characteristics of my human body.~

~But I thought you said you were not of the Sky People, but the Lost People?~

When the fingers stopped playing with his queue, Harry made a small noise of complaint. ~You keep doing that, I keep talking.~ He said, when it seemed like Tsu'tey had no intention of continuing. Besides, it never as fun when you were playing with it yourself.

When Tsu'tey seemed to agree to his terms for this conversation, Harry purred again and lay down on the ground. ~I'm not Sky People. The Lost People have m- that energy that I showed. Sky People don't.~

~Are there more Lost People?~

~No, I'm the last.~

~Is that why you cannot die?~

~I don't know. I think so, but I've never been able to figure it out.~ Yawning, Harry closed his eyes, still enjoying the petting of his queue.

Tsu'tey made a small amused sound that Harry wouldn't have been able to hear if he were human. ~You realize that mothers do this to their children to calm them down after night terrors.~

~Well, I never had a mother.~

The petting paused before starting again. ~What happened to her?~

~She and my father were killed by a bad man when I was a baby. He was Lost People, too, but he hated. Hated very much. Wanted to kill all the Sky People because they were different. I don't much like the idea of killing anyone, and neither did my parents, so he killed them too. Eventually, I managed to win when I was older. But now I wonder… that if I had let him live and kill all the Sky People, would Mother Earth still be alive and well?~ Unable to help himself, he started crying. He'd been keeping it pent up inside himself for so long… the guilt. The questions of 'what if'.

The knowledge that he had _failed_.

The queue petting had long since changed from sexual to comforting, much like how he felt when his hair was played with or his back massaged. He hadn't been laid in so long it was no surprise this had turned him on, really.

Being lost in his thoughts as he was, Harry was completely unprepared for the arms that lifted him into the air and held him against a warm chest partially-covered in armour. Blinking in confusion, he nearly yelped when Tsu'tey started running up a nearby tree with a skill that made Harry envious.

Before the wizard had a chance to comment, Tsu'tey had settled them in the extremely large crook of a Pandoran tree branch. Wrapping his arms around Harry, he absently began to play with the end of his queue again.

~Why…~ Harry didn't know exactly how to put into words what he wanted to ask. Tsu'tey was a hard man to read, even when his face was inches from Harry's own.

Tsu'tey met his eyes for a moment. ~I See you.~

Harry didn't really remember the saying clearly, but somehow he felt it was… important. ~I don't understand.~

Tsu'tey watched him for a few more moments before closing his eyes in 'sleep'. ~You are not Sky People. I have seen into you through the… bond, and you are in pain. So I am…~ his arms tightened as he didn't know how to explain. Perhaps it was something that was inherent to their culture? ~Sleep.~ He commanded.

Harry let himself relax in the Na'vi's hold and let his head rest on Tsu'tey's shoulder. He was slightly shorter than the taller man, so it wasn't nearly as uncomfortable as it could have been. Plus, with the fingers petting his queue and the soft humming of a song he could almost remember, it was easy to close his eyes.

~A~

When Harry woke up the next morning, he felt… strange. Going into this mind, he was surprised to see that the mess that his mind had been was mostly cleared up, and even the Pandoran corner had righted itself during the night. Was the Na'vi mind really so deeply affected by the health of their queue that it had affected him in his _human_ body? What would happen if Tsu'tey hadn't been there to keep Harry from cutting it off?

Speaking of Tsu'tey… Harry opened his eyes and frowned at the sight of the bottom of his bunk. Oh. He was back in his room… His eyes slipped closed again as he yawned.

Then they snapped back open, wide and he sat up straight as a board.

He had entered his AVATAR through _his mind_ last night. How… how was that even possible? The scientist in him balked at the sheer impossibility of it all, while the wizard inside him, who had seemingly woken up again when dynamite had exploded inside his skull, told it to stuff it and anything was possible where magic was concerned. Hence the word _'magic'_.

Well, damn. He needed to get back in a link in order to talk to Tsu'tey about what had happened last night. He hadn't been on a trip that bad since he'd had a run in with some new drug at a bar that had resulted in him melting half the metal apartment of the guy who had intended to rape him that night.

He'd needed to fake his own death to cover up _that_ fuck up.

Quickly changing into a clean pair of clothes, he brushed his teeth, ran his fingers through his hair, and then ran out the door.

"Dr. Blackstone!"

Harry grimaced just as he was sitting down on his link bed. Shit. He'd forgotten Grace had wanted to talk to him.

"Good morning, Dr. Augustine," he greeted politely as she came storming towards him.

She raised an eyebrow. "You and I need to talk, bucko."

"Uh, I'm a little busy at the moment for talking. Omaticayan life starts early, and all." He smiled widely at her.

She didn't look pleased in the least. "You better get to sleep at the same time as Jake tonight, or I'm going to yank you out of that link bed myself. Capiche?"

Harry saluted. "You got it captain!" Before she could say another word though, he'd pulled the lid of the link coffin shut and closed his eyes.

~A~

When his eyes opened again, Harry was slightly disappointed to see that Tsu'tey was nowhere in sight. Wilting slightly, he looked around the tree branch he'd been left on for any sight of blue man. Immediately, he chastised himself. Tsu'tey's very biologic make up made him straighter than a fucking… everything he could think of, from horizon to ruler bent slightly or could by physically bent.

Grumbling to himself in annoyance, he crawled down from the tree and tried to ignore how shitty it was for him, a gay man, to get a crush on a Na'vi male.

He was so fucked.

Stripping off his dirty boxers, Harry jumped into the river and started thoroughly washing the grime off himself that he hadn't finished washing off the night before. After that was done, he started washing his clothes too so he'd have something to wear out of here.

~I See you, Harri.~

Harry yelped and slipped on a rock, getting himself thoroughly drenched. Getting back to his feet, he wiped loose bits of hair out of his face and glared at the grinning and laughing sight of Tsu'tey. His irritation couldn't last long, however, at the sight of Tsu'tey _not_ being an asshole. Completely floored, he just stared.

Tsu'tey, having finally stopped chuckling at his expense, tilted his head to the side, making the beads and feathers in his hair dip to one side. ~Are you going to greet me in return? It is customary among the People.~

Harry smiled. Tsu'tey was actually being nice! A ball of energy knotted up in his stomach. ~I See you,~ he greeted back, nodding his head slightly with a smile.

~Are you feeling better this morning?~ Tsu'tey asked, walking over to the edge of the river where Harry had hung his pants and boxers to dry. Currently he was working on the shirt.

Harry nodded. ~Much better. Thank you.~

Tsu'tey's eyes glanced down at the shirt in his hands currently hiding his non-existent junk from view. ~I have brought you clothes. You need not wear those.~

Harry blinked and looked down at the worn, hole-ridden shirt. ~Oh. Okay.~ Shrugging, he walked out of the water, wringing out his shirt. Hanging it up on the same tree as the others, he turned toward Tsu'tey expectantly, completely naked and not particularly caring.

The Na'vi didn't seem to either, tossing him something that was half rope, half cloth. Harry stared at it, bewildered.

~Clothes.~

Harry looked at it, at Tsu'tey, and then back at the skimpy thong he now held in his hand. Er, loin cloth. Well, it was basically a thong with a strip of cloth that would hang down over the crotch… area. Since there was no particular _crotch_ in sight.

… Okay, this was beginning to bother him just a little too much. ~Um, Tsu'tey? Before I get this thing on… I have a question. It's a little… embarrassing.~

Tsu'tey raised an eyebrow. Well, a ridge, because they technically didn't have any hair on their faces. ~Yes?~

Harry looked down at the flat plane that was his… well, junk. ~Well, you know about how these bodies aren't our real bodies, right?~ Tsu'tey nodded. ~So, I don't know how to…~ He kept looking down.

Silence.

Then Tsu'tey started roaring with laughter, making Harry one irritated kitty. Just ask his tail. ~You do not know how to relieve yourself?~

Harry's face turned red. ~I know how to do _that_. I mean, how do you… you know.~

Tsu'tey stared at him in incomprehension.

"Wank." He finally said in English, embarrassed beyond relief. Tsu'tey parroted the word back at him, still not understanding. "Jack off?" Blank look. "Beat the stick?" An alarmed look. "Pump the stump?" A 'wtf' look. Wow, so a Na'vi _can_ pull that off… "Masturbate?" And back to incomprehension. Great. ~How do Na'vi have babies?~ he finally asked.

_-Toki Mirage-_

"Don't play with that, you'll go blind." – Grace Augustine

(rofl)


	12. Chapter 12

**Azure Light**

~A~

Tsu'tey stared at him. Harry stared back. Then Tsu'tey just grinned and pointed to the thong in Harry's hands. ~I'll explain after you put that on.~

Harry shrugged and tried to figure out how to slip into it. The first time he tried to pull it on, he forgot about his tail, as Tsu'tey reminded him with a laugh. Scowling at the Na'vi, Harry slipped his tail through the two pieces in the back of the thong and then slid it up as if it were underwear. Once he got it up all the way, he reached around the flap to adjust the junk-covering part of the thong so it wasn't bunched up and digging into his pelvis. What was the point of having a cloth-curtain in the front anyway, if the panties part of it covered the nonexistent 'bits'? Decoration?

Harry examined the hanging crotch curtain and raised an eyebrow when he noticed that the cloth was actually… knitted, while the actual thong cloth was finer. Higher thread count equals more comfort, he supposed.

Right. ~So, what about those, er, my question?~ Perhaps he should contain himself. He was showing off way too much of the gay man within. Maybe his mind was still a little topsy turvy from yesterday…

Tsu'tey grinned and sat down on the mossy ground. ~When a mated pair mates, they have a child.~

Harry rolled his eyes and sat down as well. ~I guessed _that_ much. I mean, how does it work? Do you have a, er, stick that goes inside her or something? That's how it works for humans.~

~Stick? Oh. That. It only comes out during mating.~

Harry stared. ~_Only_ during mating?~ You couldn't masturbate on this planet? That was so unfair! He was having a talking to with Eywa the next time he died.

Tsu'tey raised an eyebrow. ~Yes. Why do you ask? Is it different for your people?~

~Yes. Our… stick, is always on the outside of the body. We were built that way. Along with the stick are two… balls. Inside the balls are half of where babies come from.~ When Tsu'tey's head tilted to the side in confusion, Harry wondered how he could dumb down the bio-speak so the Na'vi could follow. ~Basically, there is half a tiny tiny baby inside these balls, and half a tiny tiny baby inside the balls inside a woman. These two halves come together, become one, and then a baby begins to grow. That's whey when a woman is first pregnant with child, her stomach grows as a youngling does. Understand?~

Tsu'tey nodded. ~How do you know this?~

~Scientists. They like to know many things, so they research using machines that let them see very very small things. Things so small that our eyes can't see them. That's how tiny these half-babies are.~ It was a very weird way of explaining things, but thankfully Tsu'tey seemed to be getting it. Na'vi weren't known for being stupid, after all. They picked up things like English nearly ten times as fast as humans did.

Maybe Eywa was just smarter all around. And older, perhaps. Smart enough to not _create_ beings who could be that smart and stupid enough to destroy her.

But Harry didn't want to think about Earth right now. ~So, what do we do now?~ he asked curiously.

Tsu'tey hummed thoughtfully to himself. ~There are many things to teach before you can take the test of adulthood. Perhaps I shall teach you the hunt? Or how to ride a pa'li?~

Harry grinned. ~Can you teach me how to ride an ikran?~

But the Na'vi just laughed. ~That is the final test. You cannot take it until you have learned the rest.~ When Harry wilted, he grinned. ~But I could take you up on my own.~

Harry's tail whipped around and smacked him in the arm he was so excited. ~Really? Can we go right now?~

Tsu'tey shrugged. ~I do not see why not.~ A shrill whistle escaped his mouth after that, making Harry's ears hurt it was so piercing. Thankfully, it was short.

It didn't take the ikran long to get there, since they were so close to Hometree. When it landed on the ground by the river, its massive wings kicking up a lot of pollen and bugs, Harry immediately looked off to the side so he wouldn't meet its eyes. If it was anything like a hippogryff…

~You do not meet the eyes of an ikran if you are not his rider.~ Tsu'tey began, starting the lesson. ~They are proud as we are proud.~ Taking his queue in hand, he connected it to one of the protruding queues of the ikran. With a practiced motion, he hopped on board.

Harry frowned, tilting his head to one side. ~So this is… the bond?~

Tsu'tey nodded. ~Tsaheylu. Minds meet and work together.~ He held out a hand in invitation.

Harry grinned and slowly walked forward, careful not to startle the deadly beast. Thankfully, it just gave him a look and then dismissed his existence. Taking the proffered hand of the Na'vi, he was surprised at the ease at which Tsu'tey lifted him up and onto the back of his ride, though really, he shouldn't have been after last night.

Powerful wings moved beneath him, and Harry just barely had enough time to wrap his arms around Tsu'tey's waist before they had taken to the skies. Unable to withhold his excitement, he let out an whoop of joy and grinned at the feeling of wind against his face once again. Brooms had ceased working a long time ago, after all.

Soon joy turned into both a heart-wrenching sorrow and happiness. He could fly again.

There was no way he was going to fail this test.

~A~

~This is pa'li. It is your turn,~ Tsu'tey said, motioning to one of the many horse-like creatures wandering around the clearing.

Harry had never ridden a horse before, besides that Thestral once, so this was completely new to him. ~So, how does this go again?~

~Tsaheylu,~ Tsu'tey oh so clearly explained.

Biting his lip, Harry eeked his way towards one of the pa'li, trying to find one with a good temperament. They fidgeted away from him nervously, so Harry tried to project an aura of calm on the one closest to him. It relaxed slightly, returning to its grazing. Slowly walking towards it, so as to not startle it, he gently ran a hand up its flank to see if it would try to kill him or not. When it did nothing, he took hold of the queue that was waving near his face and grabbed his own from behind him. This was going to be… interesting.

As soon as the filaments joined together, the pa'li let out a terrific squeal and nearly bolted right then and their, its entire body seizing. Harry projected calm to it through his mind, suddenly very glad that the was experienced in mind magics. The pa'li paced nervously, but didn't run away. That was a good sign.

Now… how did he get on this thing? Staring at the smooth back, he frowned. Tried asking the pa'li. It didn't have enough intelligence to understand what he was trying to get at. Sighing, he coiled his legs and used all of his strength to hop up, grabbing onto the ridge at the top of the pa'li's back to ground himself as he slipped one leg over and landed on top.

Alright, that wasn't too painful. ~Now what?~ he asked, turning to look for Tsu'tey. Only, the warrior wasn't there. Frowning, Harry spun completely around, looking for any sign of the warrior. Still nothing.

~This isn't funny, Tsu'tey! How do I ride this thing?~ The pa'li snorted. ~Okay, you're not a thing. No need to get so defensive.~ It let out a breathier snort. ~What, do _you_ have any brilliant ideas? How about we wander over to the other side of the field and see if he's there, mk?~

Thankfully, the pa'li just did exactly as he asked, lazily slurping up some food as it went. Harry kept looking around, but caught no sight of Tsu'tey.

"It is not _horse_. Must be clear with what you think as you say where to go."

Harry blinked, then frowned. Oh, that was a familiar voice. Shifting his weight forward, the pa'li was already responding to his unconscious thoughts and moved in the direction that the voice had come from. It was kind of like riding a broom, actually. A Firebolt, well, what he could remember of it, had seemed to almost respond to his thoughts as he moved around the pitch. One of the reasons why it was so expensive was because of those intuitive magics.

"Aargh!" Harry frowned slightly. "Why do I keep falling off?"

"Must use legs to hold on. Shift with weight of the pa'li."

Harry looked down at his own legs, which were already gripping on as if this were a broomstick. Well, at least he hadn't fallen off yet. Was that Jake? He couldn't imagine anyone else speaking English in this place.

Finally making his way around the corner of foliage, he snorted in amusement at the sight of Jake, covered in mud, trying to get back on top of the pa'li. Neytiri however, was watching Harry, having probably heard him a while ago. Jake wasn't nearly as observant.

Harry inclined his head to her, not sure it was appropriate to use the 'I see you' greeting with someone he didn't know that well. Research could only tell so much, after all. Some things you just needed to experience and judge for yourself.

She nodded back, turning her attention back to Jake and the- Oh, it had booted him again.

"You're really not that great at horseback, are you?" Harry couldn't help but ask, a grin on his face.

Jake pulled himself out of the dirt with a scowl that turned into a slight grin at the sight of Harry. "Oh hey! I didn't see you there."

"No, you were in the mud." They both laughed.

~Where is Tsu'tey?~ Neytiri asked, looking slightly impatient.

Harry shrugged. ~I don't know. He was here a mo-~ Whistling. Spinning around with his pa'li, he reached a hand up into the air and closed his fist around an arrow before he even realized what he was doing.

Both Neytiri and Jake stared at him.

Harry was pissed. ~Hey! Tsu'tey! That's not funny! I thought we had moved past the killing stage!~

Tsu'tey dropped out of the tree with a grace that reminded Harry of a dancer. His grin was wide and toothy. ~In order to be a hunter, one must have awareness.~ He shot Jake a dirty look, but the AVATAR driver just smiled and waved.

Harry couldn't help but be amused at the irritation this seemed to draw out of Tsu'tey. Served him right for shooting a fucking arrow at Harry.

Neytiri seemed to be on the same wavelength. ~What are you doing, shooting arrows at him? You have only been training for less than a day.~

Tsu'tey shrugged. ~He is no idiot. Who am I to insult by treating him like a child?~ He sneered. ~Unlike the moron you have to teach.~

Neytiri bristled, and Harry frowned at the mounting tension between the two. All this over Jake? From what he understood, Neytiri didn't have much choice in the matter. Much like Tsu'tey.

Harry manoeuvred the pa'li closer to Tsu'tey. ~Perhaps we should continue on our way and leave them to training?~ he asked, his pa'li shifting nervously on its feet in accordance with his mood.

Tsu'tey just nodded, thankfully, and motioned Harry to follow him into the forest. ~We will test your riding through the trees.~

~A~

They rode for a good hour before Tsu'tey brought them to a stop in a small, peaceful clearing where the Na'vi proceeded to try to beat the crap out of him in a spar with next to no warning. Dodging the first attack, Harry put the agitated pa'li between them. Unfortunately, Tsu'tey just jumped over.

Reacting with instinct that had been pushed away decades ago by a more scientific mindset, Harry used the Na'vi's momentum to throw him into the bushes. Slipping into a nearly-forgotten stance, he prepared himself.

Their fight continued for nearly an hour or so before Tsu'tey called it quits, saying they still had much to do that day. He left Harry in the clearing, claiming he was out to hunt lunch. Not that the wizard had any complaints. He was starved!

To distract himself from the rumbling of his stomach, he made his aching body go through the motions of katas long forgotten. More than once he had to resort to looking through his older memories to get the forms right, as his muscle memory had faded over the decades, but by the time Tsu'tey had returned, he felt much better inside his own skin.

~What was that dance?~

Harry started at the sudden conversation, teeth having sunk into the stringy meat of whatever animal Tsu'tey had caught and gutted. It looked a lot like a cross between a rabbit and a miniature T-Rex.

He swallowed. ~What dance?~

~You were dancing when I came back to cook. What was the dance?~

It clicked. ~Ah, right. It's not actually a dance. It's called a 'kata'. It's a… battle dance. You practice the movements until they are second nature, and then call upon them in battle.~

Tsu'tey looked intrigued. ~Are there many dances? Or only one?~

~Oh, there are many dances for all the cultures on Earth. I learned mine many years ago, so I'm out of practice. I haven't needed to fight in many years.~

~You used to fight a lot?~

~For a time. I was… frustrated that I couldn't die. I wanted it to end, to have peace, but…~ Harry took another small bite of rex-rabbit, spirits taking a downwards turn. He didn't like thinking about Earth anymore. It always made him… depressed.

~If that is a battle dance, do you have any other dances?~

Harry snapped out of his dark memories. ~Hm? Uh… no, not really. Well, besides the _mishmash_ of _acrobatics_ and _gymnastics_ I learned... But I haven't done those in a long time.~

~Show me.~

Harry paused and looked across the small fire at Tsu'tey. ~What?~

~Show me. Please?~

Mostly finished his dinner anyway, Harry shrugged and put his meat down on the leaf set in front of him that also held a piece of fruit Tsu'tey had foraged. ~I guess… but don't be surprised if it's terrible.~

~You could never dance terribly.~

Blood rushed to Harry's cheeks, and he wondered if Tsu'tey realized exactly how that sounded. Coughing slightly, he walked into the middle of the clearing and pondered exactly what he should do. Already limber and warmed up from his earlier practicing, he decided he might as well start with something easy. Going into a handstand, he kept his breathing as steady as possible and carefully let his legs fall open into the splits. Thankfully, flexibility seemed to be ingrained into either his or the Na'vi biology and he didn't pull any groin muscles. That would have sucked.

Using every bit of muscle control available to his already tired body, he let his back curve forward and his ass come down, his legs coming together slightly in the front until he was upright, arms between his legs and holding him upright, while his legs extended in front of him. It was only sheer force of will that stopped Harry from looking at Tsu'tey's face. He wasn't sure what he did or didn't want to see there. Shifting his balance onto one hand, he held it out to the side and then mentally crossed his fingers and brought his body upright again, balancing on the one hand. Feeling muscles beginning to strain under his demands, he put down his other arm and let his legs tip him backwards. Curving his back into a bridge, he let one foot land before the other so he could let the forward momentum pull his upper body into a standing position.

~Sorry I couldn't last very long. This body isn't used to the… strain…~ Harry trailed off, a fierce blush heating his cheeks at the look Tsu'tey was sending him. It was a mixture of appreciation, respect, and… desire?

Nah, Tsu'tey probably just wanted to learn how to do it too. As he'd explained before, Eywa hadn't wired her children for homosexuality. The reminder sent a jolt of pain through his chest that he quickly buried due to many years of practice.

_~Toki Mirage~_

Okay, in response to some reviews… I'm aware of the fact that the people developing Avatar said that Na'vi and humans have similar reproductive organs. However, if you studied Na'vi crotches as diligently as I did for the entire movie, going slow motion in a lot of the scenes, you would detect a lack of a bump in regards to male genetalia. Thus, the source of my rationalization as an audience member, which will become more detailed as the story continues.

Thanks go to Roos for this chapter. I've been distinctly lacking drive to do anything these days. Hopefully this inspiration will keep up until winter semester begins, but we'll see.


	13. Chapter 13

**Azure Light**

~A~

~No, you are doing it all wrong!~

Harry's ears flattened back against his skull as, once again, Tsu'tey got pissed off at him. ~I'm trying, okay? This isn't exactly easy!~

The Na'vi's tail twitched irritably behind him as he stalked up to Harry and readjusted the bow in his grip _again_. ~How is it you learn so many other things quickly, but this takes so long?~

Harry snarled. ~I'm not a quick learner of _anything_, Tsu'tey. The difference is that I've had over a thousand years to learn how to kick your ass in physical combat, while I've never touched a cursed bow in my entire life!~

Tsu'tey just grunted irritably and jerked the AVATAR driver's arm back into the proper position. ~Again.~

Harry hadn't even been allowed to fire yet. Until Tsu'tey was happy with his posture and grip, he wasn't allowed to move from this spot.

He was seriously tempted to light the bow on fire.

~Tsu'tey! How do you fare, brother?~ a voice called from a ways away. Harry sighed in relief as Tsu'tey turned from him and walked towards the Na'vi making his way across the small field. What Harry wouldn't give for a gun of any kind at this moment…

"Oh, Harry! It's been a while."

Harry lowered his bow and turned in the direction of the voice. Jake stood near the edge of the clearing, where Neytiri had ditched him. She was running towards the same Na'vi male that had spoken to Tsu'tey so suddenly with a wide grin on her face. Apparently they all knew each other.

"Hey, what's up?" Harry asked, giving up on the bow and walking towards Jake to take a break.

The AVATAR grinned. "Oh you know, getting my ass beat by Neytiri on a regular basis."

Harry snorted. "At least you don't have Tsu'tey trying to teach you how to shoot a bow."

Jake grimaced. "That bad, eh?"

"Yeah. So, what brought you guys over here? Usually Neytiri and Tsu'tey avoid each other's haunts. I can't decide if it's because there's some sort of tension between the two of them that I don't know about, or Tsu'tey just doesn't like you and Neytiri doesn't want him to cut off your head."

Punching him in the arm with a laugh, Jake shook his head. "I dunno. Could be either. Apparently Tsu'tey and Neytiri are supposed to be some sort of couple."

Harry raised an calm eyebrow in order to hide the sudden onslaught of jealousy, anger, and sadness. "Really? What made you come to that conclusion?"

"Well, Dr. Augustine explained to me that he's supposed to be the next chief or something, and in order to do that he has to 'mate' with Neytiri, since she's supposed to be the next Tsaahock."

Harry grimaced. "_Tsahik_."

"Yeah, whatever. I've never seen them be particularly friendly towards each other, though. Just the usual… you know, respect between warriors thing."

Harry grunted noncommittally. Great.

~Harri! Come, there is someone you must meet.~ Tsu'tey called across the field. Well, ordered.

Harry sighed softly. "Being summoned. It was nice chatting with you." Taking off at a jog, he made his way towards the three Na'vi with a melange of emotions churning in his gut.

Tsu'tey was grinning happily as Harry came closer, throwing the older man off to say the least. ~Harri, this is Omocan. He was the warrior who trained me when I was young. Omocan, this is Harri, my student.~

Harry bowed his head. ~I See you.~

Omocan inclined his head as well. ~I See you. How are you learning thus far?~

Harry bit the inside of his cheek for a moment to keep the grimace off his face. ~I am progressing well in combat, but find my skills lacking with a bow.~

Polite interest crossed the older Na'vi's face. ~Really? Perhaps I can help. If you don't mind, that is, Tsu'tey?~

The younger warrior shrugged. ~If you succeed where I have failed, I will be truly grateful, Omocan.~

The warrior nodded and motioned to Harry. ~Draw.~

Sighing softly to himself, Harry slipped into the stance that Tsu'tey had been drilling into him for the past week with little luck. Omocan took one look at him and then gently readjusted Harry's posture. ~Look carefully, Tsu'tey. His shoulders are not as wide as yours, and so his arms must be adjusted so.~ He pointed to a couple things in Harry's stance that the AVATAR driver couldn't even begin to understand. ~He holds himself well. But see here,~ he quickly adjusted Harry's wrist, arm, and made him relax the tension in his shoulder. ~See, much better now.~

Tsu'tey looked fascinated as he eyed Harry's posture and noted the things Omocan had adjusted to get it there. ~Yes, it is. How did you…~

Omocan laughed jovially. ~You are a very good warrior, Tsu'tey, but there are some things that must come with the experience of teaching many.~ Pulling an arrow from his own quiver, he handed it to Harry. ~Draw, and aim at the target.~

Harry drew again, this time with an arrow notched, and waited patiently as Omocan adjusted his grip and his posture again slightly, making sure Tsu'tey took note. ~Before you fire, remember that the farther away, the more your arrow falls. Adjusting will take experience and knowledge of your bow.~

Harry nodded. It was kind of like shooting with a sling shot. He'd had a lot of practice doing that with grenades. Aiming slightly above his target, he let the arrow loose. For once, the string didn't cut his face, and that alone made Harry's opinion of Omocan rise from 'respected-friend-of-Tsu'tey' to 'respected-guru-warrior'.

Not to mention the arrow had actually hit the rather large target. Not that it was anywhere near the center.

~Very good! See, Tsu'tey, he is not as hopeless as you believed.~

Harry grinned brightly and couldn't help but let out a cheer. Hey, he'd been doing this for a week straight with no luck so far. That he'd actually hit a target was amazing!

Seeing the proud look on Tsu'tey's face, his grin widened.

~A~

"Finally back, I see."

Harry groaned and scrubbed his eyes. Great. Grace had noticed him coming out of link. "Hey, Doc. What's up?"

She raised an eyebrow. "You and I are long overdue for a chat. Come on."

Forcing himself out of the link bed with a grunt, Harry tried to rub some of the bleariness out of his eyes. Being back in this body was disorientating after so long in his AVATAR. "Where are we going?" he asked, stumbling the first few steps before he readjusted to his shorter legs.

Grace glanced back at him with an irritated look. "Where do you think?"

Letting out a small sigh, Harry decided to keep his mouth shut and just followed.

After about a five minute walk through the convoluted corridors of the base, Grace led him into what appeared to be an office near the research department. She motioned him to sit down on the only guest chair in the room, taking her own seat as she did so. Rifling through the datapads on her desk, she finally found the one she was looking for and set it on top of her crossed legs.

"So, tell me exactly what happened since we lost you on that trip. And _don't_ leave any details out," she ordered, picking up a stylus and letting it hover over the datapad.

Harry sighed and gave her a look of his own. "Can't you go look through my logs?"

Her eyes narrowed. "I did. The _three_ that you've made. Do I need to treat you like a child, or can you follow proper procedure like everybody else on base?"

Woops. "Right. I'll be more… diligent."

A look. "See that you do. Now, details. Jake doesn't give a shit about any of the scientific aspects of your kind of situation, and getting information from him is like pulling teeth. So, I'm stuck with you. The _scientist_. Any observations you'd like to share, or do I have to pull out my knife collection?"

Harry grinned and laughed. "Why, Dr. Augustine! I didn't know you had it in you." A flat, unimpressed look. "Alright, alright. Well, there isn't much I've learned yet that you haven't already observed and written in your book and essays. I haven't really had any sessions with Mo'at yet. She's been pretty busy with a recent death, a couple of babies born, as well as her typical communing with people that have suffered losses. There's a lot of animosity towards the Sky People. Tsu'tey in particular has had no problems with telling me how much he hates them."

Grace frowned, looking up from the notes she was making on her pad. "Jake tells me that Tsu'tey is training you as Neytiri is training him. How'd that happen?"

Harry scratched the back of his head with a bashful grin. "Well, you see, I might have let it slip that I've had some… self-defence training. And Tsu'tey just jumped right on top of that and challenged me in front of the entire clan. We fought. Mo'at decided that I should be trained as _táronyu _as well as _tsahik_. She picked Tsu'tey to be the one to teach me."

"Self-defence training? That's not in your file."

Harry kept his expression schooled to one of amused befuddlement. "Really? Well, I have had some training. Anyway, I've been with Tsu'tey all day. He's been teaching me how to shoot an arrow, some hand to hand, how to handle a dagger, that sort of thing."

She nodded. "Have you learned any cultural habits that I'm not aware of?"

Harry hummed thoughtfully, rubbing his chin. "No, not really. Tsu'tey isn't the most… sharing kind of guy, you know?"

Grace sighed. "Yes. I'm afraid there's some… history there. He was there when…" She trailed off with a frustrated and sad look. "Anyway. I'd like to discuss your duties on this end. I know that all Jake has to do now is learn the ways of the Omaticaya, but he doesn't have multiple PhDs like you do."

Harry grimaced. Oh, this was gonna be lovely. "Right. So, when exactly do I get to sleep?"

Grace shrugged. "Every two nights you'll get around six to eight hours, like Jake. The night when you're not sleeping, we'll be going over recent data the researchers have pulled in. I want your opinion on everything we go over, and you need to stay up to speed on the projects we're working on."

Harry grimaced. "Which night is tonight?"

She smiled viciously. "Haven't you guessed?" Reaching for a datapad on her desk, she handed it over to him. "Right now the division I've put you with is looking into signal transduction between the trees of Pandora. We don't have any solid theories yet, but everyone's throwing around ideas of their own. Myself and Norm think that it _might_ be a sign that the moon indeed has a consciousness. What are your thoughts on it?"

Well wasn't that a loaded question. "I think… that Eywa's real."

Grace's head tilted to one side. "You sound pretty convinced. Why is that? Have you found proof that we don't have?"

Harry shook his head with a small smile. "You know… there are some things in life that you believe just because you believe them. This is one of those things. It's not very scientific, but I wasn't always a scientist."

Grace snorted. "You sound like one of those religious writers of the past, or one of the few fanatics still left. Do you believe in pagan voodoo too?"

Harry laughed and wondered what she'd do if he turned her hair purple, went invisible, or connected to her mind and showed her the beauty of Eywa. Wondered if her mind would even be able to comprehend a symbiosis on that level. "Pagan voodoo? What's that, exactly?"

She gave a small laugh and shook her head. "Nevermind. It's nothing important. Anyway, do you have any proof that Eywa's real?"

Harry shrugged. "Nothing concrete. If I find something, I'll be sure to let you know."

Dark eyes narrowed, and for a moment Harry thought she was going to call his bluff. "Alright. Have a good sleep, then."

Nodding his head in acquiescence and barely keeping himself from letting out a breath of relief, he left her office and walked quickly back to his bunk. After everything that had happened today, he could use a decent night of sleep.

~A~

Harry frowned when he made his way into the biolab the next morning to see Grace, Norm, and a bunch of techies packing up supplies. "What's going on?" he asked Max as the doctor walked by.

A dark shadow passed through the man's eyes for a moment before he smiled. "Oh, Grace just decided to take a little trip."

Harry's frown deepened. "A trip. Where, and who's going with her?"

"Oh, just Norm and Jake, aside from the pilot and Grace herself."

Harry opened his mouth to ask more questions, but at that moment Grace herself walked by. "Harry! Perfect, just the guy I wanted to see. Can I speak to you a moment?"

Bewildered, Harry just nodded and followed her into a corner of the room. The serious glint in her eyes had deepened since last night. "What's going on, exactly?" he whispered, every instinct he had screaming at him that something was up.

"Jake is giving Quarritch tactical information on the Omaticaya."

Harry stared at her. "Are you serious?"

"Deadly. I need to get him out of here and isolated. Hopefully, with time, he'll see this as more than just another 'mission'," she murmured bitterly with a scowl. "He doesn't even realize the position he's in. What he could learn- It's astounding how… how… You know, I should have expected it. He is _military_, after all."

Harry placed a calming hand on her arm. "He'll figure it out. He's not a bad guy, just following orders."

Grace scoffed. "Orders. Right. Well, how about I add some more _orders_ onto what we discussed last night. In my absence, you're in charge of overseeing the scientific division."

Harry gaped. "_What?_ But I'm- I've only been here for- for little over a _week_. How does that make me qualified to run the science division?"

Grace snorted with a small smile. "It's not that big of a job, numnuts. I'm still telling them what to do; you're just here to be my eyes. Make sure people are making progress, aren't slacking, that sort of thing."

The wizard took a deep, calming breath. "You expect me to do that _on top_ of everything we discussed last night?"

Grace smirked. "What, are you saying you can't handle it? With your impressive resume, this is exactly what I hired you for. You've run a research group before."

"Well, yes, but-"

"You can handle it, Dr. Blackstone. Enough whining. In case you hadn't noticed, I have packing to finish. The scientists who decided to stay instead of rotating back will keep the newbies in line, so you have nothing to worry about." Without another word, she walked off and started barking orders at the grunts milling about, getting things done.

Harry rubbed a hand over his face and sighed, walking off to the link room. Right. Piece of cake.

Once he reached his destination, he hopped onto the link bed with a scowl, letting the silent techie take care of all the logistics. He _could_ just jump into his AVATAR through his mental connection, but knew it wasn't such a good idea with smart people like Max Patel keeping an eye on his brain activity.

Letting his consciousness be swept away, his eyes next opened to the sight of an irritated pair of yellow.

~You. Why won't Jake wake up?~

Harry blinked and sat up in his hammock, confused. Neytiri of all people was staring down at him from the branch above. ~Jake?~ He thought about it for a second. ~Oh right. They're moving. He might be asleep for half a day, or all day. I'm not sure. I didn't ask.~

The tail behind her flicked irritably. ~He should have told me if he was… _moving_, as you say.~

Harry shook his head and crawled out of the hammock and onto another nearby branch. ~He didn't know. I didn't find out until this morning.~

She 'humph'ed and stalked off, tail flicking back and forth behind her. What crawled up her ass and died? At least Tsu'tey wasn't a total asshole.

Though, with the way he treated Jake… Harry frowned.

~You are awake?~ a familiar voice asked nearby, interrupting his thoughts.

Harry looked to his left and smiled at the sight of a certain _tsamsiyu_ – warrior. ~Hello, Tsu'tey. Did you rest well?~

The Na'vi male inclined his head and jumped down to Harry's branch. ~We have much to do today. Come.~ Motioning Harry to follow with a jerk of his head, he walked off towards the base of the tree so they could go down. Only… Tsu'tey started making his way up.

~Are we taking _Txon'ong_ for a ride?~ he asked curiously.

The Na'vi nodded. ~We are going farther today than yesterday.~

When Tsu'tey had nothing more to say, Harry raised an eyebrow and shut up, following close behind. They reached the top of the tree quickly at the pace the warrior took, and Harry took a moment to enjoy the view as Tsu'tey made odd ululations to call his _ikran_ to him.

Nightfall, the name of Tsu'tey's _ikran_ translated into English, arrived diligently. He preened under Tsu'tey's touch as the na'vi connected their queues. Ignoring the beast's curious eyes on him, Harry did as Tsu'tey directed and climbed onto the _ikran_ behind him, carefully avoiding the two sets of eyes.

They took off with another cry from Tsu'tey, and Harry quickly turned his attention away from the beautiful purple markings on Nightfall's wings to the expansive scenery below them. Tightening his hold around Tsu'tey's warm, chiselled stomach, he let out a small contented sigh. It was so nice to be flying again. Especially when it gave him an excuse to get close to a certain na'vi warrior.

For once glad that his new physiology didn't allow irritating erections to give him away, he relaxed against Tsu'tey and let his cheek rest on a warm back.

Tsu'tey allowed it for about ten seconds before he spoke. ~Are you tired, Harri?~ he called out over the noise of the wind.

Harry immediately jumped and pulled back, making more space between them. ~Sorry,~ he shouted back. ~I, uh, didn't mean to invade your space.~

Tsu'tey was silent for a moment. ~You didn't answer my question.~

Nervous, Harry tried to come up with something to say. ~Grace kept me up late last night.~

~Then you are tired. This will be a long flight. If you wish to rest, you may.~

Harry frowned. Was Tsu'tey saying that he could rest against the na'vi's back? ~If I fall asleep like this, I'll fall off,~ he said jokingly.

To his surprise, Tsu'tey immediately adjusted his crouch on top of Nightfall to a seated position, forcing Harry to adjust accordingly or lose grip of the na'vi warrior. With his legs now dangling over the edge of wings instead of balancing him precariously on top of a smooth back, he was in a much more comfortable position for sleep. ~Are you sure?~ he couldn't help but ask, still leaving some room between them. The bow was a little awkward at this angle, digging into his thigh a bit, but not enough that he couldn't ignore it.

Tsu'tey glanced back at him with an annoyed expression. ~Sleep,~ he ordered before turning his attention back to the flight.

Mentally shrugging to himself, he let his body come to rest against a broad back and let out a small, happy sigh. Before long, the sound of a steady heartbeat, the rhythmic pumping of wings, and the whistle of the wind had put him to sleep.

_-Toki Mirage-_

Hey everyone! It's taking me a while to figure out exactly the direction I want this story to take, otherwise I would have updated sooner. I'm sure some of you want to see updates for my other fics as well, so you should know that the next chapter of LDBP has 3k going for it so far.

Happy New Year!


	14. Chapter 14

**Azure Light**

~A~

~Harri?~

A hand nudged him, but the wizard just grumbled and snuggled into his warm pillow some more. ~Lemme sleep five more minutes,~ he mumbled, tightening his arms around a warm… body? A very warm body. A nice, warm, and _firm_ bo-

A laugh made his pillow start shaking uncomfortably. What the…?

~We have arrived at our destination, Harri. Perhaps you should wake? There's something I would like to show you.~

Opening bleary eyes, Harry frowned at the sight of blue. Pulling back, he blinked, realizing that he was sitting on the back of a very large… oh. Looking up, he met a pair of amused yellow eyes. ~Sorry about that,~ he mumbled, voice roughened by sleep and fatigue. Even before Grace had given him extra work, he hadn't been getting much sleep this past week. The meditation he'd had to do each night to straighten out the last loose ends in his mind had been time consuming.

Tsu'tey just continued to grin slightly, amused at how rumpled Harry probably looked. Frowning, the AVATAR driver checked his mouth for drool.

Tsu'tey's grin widened as he jumped off their ride and started walking away from Nightfall and into… a cave?

~Where are we, exactly?~ Harry asked, sliding off and jogging to catch up.

Tsu'tey kept walking, in spite of the fact that there was very little light to see by. ~Father would bring me here many times when I was a small child. Many, many years ago, during a time of great storms and cold weather, the Omaticaya clan took refuge in these caves. My father's father was a child then, but he passed its location on to my father, and my father to me. Only a few in the clan remember this place, but no one ventures here anymore.~

Harry frowned, barely able to see Tsu'tey's wistful expression. ~Why don't they?~

Tsu'tey was silent for a moment. ~There was a cave-in not far from the entrance. My father almost lost me in the rubble, and after that told the clan it was no longer a safe place to explore, to warn off other families from taking their children there.~ The Na'vi warrior ran a hand along one of the stone walls, tracing something that only his memory could see. ~I wanted to come back. Clear the rocks and dirt so that we could continue to visit and explore it, but my father refused. With the caves blocked, we didn't… there were no more trips together… Just the two of us.~

A wave of sympathy spread through Harry, bringing him to lay a gentle hand on the warrior's shoulder. ~Why did he refuse?~

~Said it was too dangerous, and there wasn't enough light to see the rubble, clear it, and check for more weakness in the walls of the caves.~ Tsu'tey turned to Harry, and the AVATAR driver tensed in anticipation at the intent glint of Tsu'tey's eyes. ~You carry light with you, do you not?~

Harry blinked and froze in surprise. ~You… you want me to make light? Even after what happened last time?~

Tsu'tey shook his head. ~Last time I touched. Now I know not to touch.~ The Na'vi waved his arm in the direction of the black recesses of the cave. ~Can you?~

Closing his eyes and bringing his hands into a cupped position in front of him, Harry frowned in concentration. He'd been so busy lately he hadn't had the chance to practice magic in this body, and after the last time… well, let's just say that he wasn't exactly eager to try again.

Feeling energy pool warmly and tingle in his hands, he opened his eyes to see how the light had formed. Seeing it morph and roll like water, he carefully cajoled it to shape into a ball, then made the magic on the outside harden and encase the movement inside until all it appeared to be was a glass ball with glowing water inside.

Letting the ball move from both hands to one, he gently levitated it closer to the ceiling and commanded it to be _brighter_. The blue light flared and whitened, turning from a glowing azure ball to a brighter pastel blue.

Tsu'tey spared a moment to stare at the light in awe before turning his attention to the mission in front of him. Walking away from Harry, he approached the cave-in with a small frown. The wizard followed quietly behind, moving the ball of light with his mind so they could see all angles of the dirt and rock.

Finally, the Na'vi said something. ~It looks as though there might be an opening on the left side. The rocks and dirt aren't quite as thick there, and I think I can see the cave beyond.~

Tsu'tey carefully climbed up the rocks and dirt. Harry opened his mouth to tell him to be cautious, but the warrior had already gotten to the top of the pile and peered through. ~Can you move the light so I can see?~ he asked, and Harry did so, moving the light and affixing it metaphysically to hover over Tsu'tey's shoulder.

They were both surprised when the rock on which Tsu'tey stood shifted and _fell_, making the Na'vi lose his balance and tumble through the opening the domino of rocks tumbling down created.

Surprised by the abrupt loss of light, Harry called out Tsu'tey's name and ran towards where he had last seen the Na'vi, conjuring another light as he went. Unfortunately, just as he reached the top of the opening in the dirt, the ceiling gave way.

Harry barely had time to think about how the vibrations of one stone had set off the rest of them before he was crushed under the weight of stone and dirt.

~A~

When consciousness joined Harry the first time, it was to more pain than he could compute at that moment. When it joined him the second time, he had a few seconds to wonder why he was still alive when he couldn't breath before the lights went out again. It was only on the third time that his body had healed enough to support his consciousness, and his magic had figured out how to make up for his inability to bring in air. Next, however, he had the misfortune of being conscious while buried alive, and make no mistake, that wasn't pleasant no matter how many times you could die from asphyxiation.

Sending out his senses, he tried to get a feel for how much dirt there was. Unfortunately, since there was nothing living in the dirt, or in this entire cave besides Tsu'tey, he couldn't feel squat.

Wait, Tsu'tey! He was alive! Thank Eywa. Sending his consciousness out to the Na'vi, he tried to get a feel for his friend's status. Feelings of fear, confusion, anger, and anxiety immediately spilled into him the moment his mind brushed the warrior's. Unfortunately, he was unable to breach the Na'vi's natural walls to tell him that Harry was alive, if not exactly… 'okay'.

Getting pissed off at being trapped under all this rubble, he instinctively used his magic to try to push it off of him. To his surprise, the rocks and dirt rumbled around him before stilling as his control slipped. Wait. He could actually use magic on them? Wasn't the energy of the planet supposed to interfere, like usual?

Deciding that pondering such a mystery could wait for another day, he pushed his magic out of his AVATAR body and smiled triumphantly when it actually _worked_, fusing with the dirt around him and lifting it off him. Unfortunately, that seemed to open a whole new can of worms when he felt even _more _weight fall on top of him.

Fuck. What, was this cave-in holding up the entire… ceiling…?

Ah crap.

Well… if he couldn't move the rubble, then he'd just have to make it so it wouldn't move. Drawing his magic back into himself, he stopped pushing up all of the rocks and focused on the little around him. Using his magic, he created a small bubble around himself, melted the stone, forced it into the shape that he wanted, and then cooled it again. Casting out his senses for Tsu'tey, he repeated the process, and then crawled down the small tunnel he had created, until finally, he was on the other side of the rubble.

Gasping for sweet, sweet air, he let out a surprised groan when hands grabbed at him and yanked him away from the cave-in.

~Harri? Harri, are you okay? How are you- how did you…~ The Na'vi trailed off, blindly searching with his fingers and pausing when he touched the AVATAR driver's bruised ribs. The fractures had been mended somewhat, but only so much that his internal organs wouldn't be punctured.

~Hey,~ Harry rasped, coughing a bit of dirt and dust out of his nasal passage and nose. ~I see my little light went out. Must have happened when I died.~ No point in keeping a secret from someone who _already knew the secret_, after all.

The hand on his arm tightened. ~Don't… don't joke about that,~ Tsu'tey snapped angrily.

Harry raised an eyebrow, even though the Na'vi couldn't see it. Maybe he should do something about that… ~Why? You already knew that I can't die.~

~I knew that you didn't die from poison. I did not know that you would come back from being crushed!~ the Na'vi yelled angrily into a face that he couldn't actually see. Harry frowned at the sounds of heaving breath. ~I never should have come here. My father was right. It is too dangerous, and someone could… die…~ Tsu'tey's breath caught, but Harry heard no sign of tears, only stress, frustration, and fear.

Taking a deep, rattling breath, Harry reached a hand up and brought it to where he could feel Tsu'tey's face to be. Cupping one cheek, he sent warmth through his hand and into the Na'vi's body. ~It's okay,~ he said softly, almost wheezing. ~I'm not dead. I'll be fine.~

Tsu'tey snarled, but didn't remove the hand. ~You are not _fine_. You breath noisily, and I can tell your body is hurt.~

Harry sent another wave of warmth. ~I _will_ be fine. It'll just take a little time to heal the damage enough to walk is all, okay?~ Tsu'tey said nothing. ~I don't regret you bringing me to this place,~ he said softly, coughing a bit of phlegm out of his lungs. ~I'm glad you brought me here. Glad you shared this piece of yourself with me. Don't regret that.~ More silence. Harry let out a shuddering breath, sending healing magic into his chest to ease his breathing. ~Please?~ he breathed softly, trying to hold back a fit of coughing that would ruin his request.

The hand that had tightened around his bicep loosened and moved to Harry's heaving chest, following the rise and fall of it as if to reassure himself that Harry was still alive. The slight pressure sent Harry into a fit of coughs that made his chest ache. Angry at the phlegm and dirt that refused to leave his lungs, he sent a wave of magic through the organ to remove any fluid and clinging particles, then moved onto his side quickly to cough the lot of it out onto the floor of the cave. Clearing his throat, he let out a relieved breath at the lack of phlegm and collapsed back against Tsu'tey. "There, that's better," he muttered to himself, rubbing his chest with one hand. The other, he quickly discovered, had been caught in one of Tsu'tey's and held in place against the Na'vi's face.

Sending another small wave of warmth into his hand on the Na'vi's cheek, he focused the rest of his attention on getting his body back into working order. Letting his magic spill out of his core, he contained it to his body and then gently nudged it in the right direction. It was working much more easily now than it had even just a week ago. Maybe it was because Eywa wasn't trying to absorb him anymore? Or maybe because there was no life within a good ten meters of him in every direction? Or maybe it was because he didn't bother to try to channel it in the way he would have in his human body, instead nudging the flowing energy to do what he wanted it to do. Whatever the case, he was grateful the healing wasn't going to take nearly as long as he'd anticipated.

Working from the core outward, since his subconscious magic had already healed whatever damage had been done to his skull and vital organs, he worked on fusing the half-healed bones of his ribs back together, fixing the damage that had been done to his spine so he could feel the agony in his legs again. Next he worked on setting the bones of his legs and quickening the healing process, making sure all the bone marrow in his right femur got back to where it was supposed to be, instead of spilled all about the horrendous splintered crack. Only after his skeletal structure and internal organs were healed did he begin to work on the flesh wounds, knitting cut skin back together, bruised muscle, and rebuilding a few arteries that had been flattened.

When he was finally done, he let out a relieved breath and relaxed against Tsu'tey's surprisingly comfortable lap.

~Harri? Harri!~

~Mm? I'm fine, Tsu'tey. Just tired after all that healing.~ Sending a stronger burst of heat through his hand, he also tried to convey his happiness, concern, and how he wasn't afraid of their situation. He knew they would get out of there. It was just a matter of how much magic and time it took for Harry to fix the tunnel.

Tsu'tey gasped, his hand convulsing slightly upon Harry's own. ~How… how are you doing that? We haven't _tsaheyl si._~ Formed the bond. Established neural connection. It always sounded so weird when Harry tried to talk to Jake about _tsaheylu_, and the human kept trying to bend it to human concepts. Even wizards didn't have something close to the direct mental connection and _blending_ of two minds.

Harry startled. ~I'm sorry. Did I… did I connect… I didn't mean to, I…~ the AVATAR driver verbally stumbled, trying to pull his hand away.

Tsu'tey held it stubbornly in place. ~No, you just… I was unprepared. That is all. What is it, exactly? It is not quite _tsaheylu_.~

Harry shook his head, despite the fact that Tsu'tey couldn't see it. Actually… focusing magic into the palm of his hand, he reformed the globe from earlier much faster than he had the first time. Since he was rather accustomed to using magic in general, it wasn't taking him long to figure out how to manipulate the slightly different… flow of it, for lack of a better term.

Satisfied that he could see Tsu'tey's face now, he offered the Na'vi a small smile. ~It is a way of sending feelings to a person, as well as energy.~

~Energy?~ Harry felt a spike of anxiety through flesh as well as through golden eyes. ~It didn't… feel like before.~

Harry shook his head. ~That was an accidental… overfill. Think of it like this… When you first touched the energy, the light, it flowed into your body and filled your cup more than your cup could hold. In order to catch the water that overflowed, the energy formed the bond between us and channelled the excess back into me.~ Hazarding a guess, Harry continued, ~It didn't hurt until you separated our _tswin_, right?~

Harry sensed a wave of embarrassment for a moment until Tsu'tey shoved it down. ~No, it did not hurt until then.~

Curious, Harry wondered if it had felt for Tsu'tey as it had felt for him. ~Did it… feel nice?~ he asked.

Harry heard more than saw Tsu'tey's tail flick against the ground as his face screwed up with a mixture of emotions that he couldn't read. Thankfully, he could feel them. Unfortunately, none of them were good.

Pulling his hand away, unable to deal with the negative emotions curling in his belly, he pushed himself upright to limit contact with the Na'vi. As soon as their skin no longer touched, the terrible emotions in his stomach ceased, and he let out a relieved, heaving breath.

~Are you okay?~ Tsu'tey asked, placing his hand on Harry's shoulder. The emotions of disgust, loathing, and confusion churned in his stomach again, making the AVATAR driver pull away from the touch, regretting the confused and hurt look it put on Tsu'tey's face, but unable to deal with the Na'vi's reaction to the profound and spiritual connection they had had.

~I'm fine,~ he said calmly, wincing slightly and averting his eyes when it came out much colder than he had wanted.

Tsu'tey didn't try to touch him again, and the hurt that sank in his stomach like a ball of iron _ached_. This emotion was all Harry's own. Tsu'tey thought that their bond was disgusting. Did he hate Harry, too, as much as he had hated that moment? Was Harry nothing more than a burden for him?

Channelling his hurt and frustration into his magic, he held his hands out in front of him, towards the cave in, and _expelled_ the energy from his body in a frustrated blast of power. Red light streaked from his hands and discharged into the rubble, filling it with energy and then literally _ejecting_ it from the cave like an explosion of gunpowder sending a cannonball flying. The shockwave of pressure almost knocked Harry over, but a quick channelling of magic into the ground held him in place. Feeling the ceiling already beginning to collapse, he held out his hands and sent a wave of heat so hot that it melted the stone. A little bit of magic easily moulded it into a smooth, solid surface, and a wave of cold cooled it to the point where it would stay in place.

Slowly removing his control from the stone, he waited to see if the newly formed ceiling and walls would hold the weight of the ground above it. When no precarious rumbles ensued, he let his magic coil back into his core, this time the energy churning in agitation instead of flowing calmly.

Turning to Tsu'tey, he kept his face as neutral as possible. ~Shall we go?~

The Na'vi stared at him with an inscrutable expression.

_-Toki Mirage-_

Wow, this came out a lot quicker than I thought it would. At the end of last chapter I just had this _idea_ and figured, hey, why not run with it until it dies?

Hope you guys liked the sappy moments in this chapter. Trust me, I was probably as "Oh god, no!" as you guys were coming to the end of this chapter. (Sad sigh) The writer demanded it of me, though. And trust me, she's a tyrant. T_T (internal romantic: sniffles)


	15. Chapter 15

**Azure Light**

~A~

Tsu'tey continued to stare at him for a moment before looking at the cleared entrance of the cave, then at Harry, then back at the Pandoran skyline in the distance. For a moment Harry thought he was going to freak out like a human would, but he seemed to steel himself, his ears twitching back and eyes narrowing. ~You are angry. Why?~

Harry raised his eyebrows and put a casual hand on his hip. ~Angry? Why would I be angry?~ Walking towards the exit of the cave, he left his little glow light with the Na'vi in case he decided to stay. Even if he was hurt by the warrior's feelings, that didn't mean he was going to ditch the guy in a cave with no light.

Tsu'tey wasn't having any of it, though. Moving after Harry with an agility that only a seasoned warrior could possess, he grabbed the AVATAR driver by the arm and yanked him back. ~Yes, you are, and in anger you…~ He gestured at the cleared rubble with a convoluted expression.

Harry tried to pull his arm away, but Tsu'tey's grip merely tightened in response to the point of pain. ~Let. Go.~

The Na'vi bared his teeth at Harry in challenge. ~What will you do? Blast me as though I were rocks?~

Harry flinched and took a step back. ~I would never-~

~Then why will you not speak to me? I am your _karyu_.~ Teacher. Tsu'tey said it as though it were the answer to everything. When Harry said nothing, refusing to meet the Na'vi's eyes, the hand released him and Tsu'tey stalked away to the entrance of the cave. ~Come. We return to Hometree,~ he ordered, calling for Nightfall as he reached the edge of the cave.

The _ikran_ was quick to respond, though it appeared agitated. Perhaps Harry had hit it by accident with the blast of rock? When Harry went to climb on top of it, the beast snapped at his arm and took a chunk out of him. Hissing, Harry flinched back and gingerly tested the wound with his fingers, not trusting to take his eyes off Nightfall. When they pulled away with a little blood but not too much, he deemed the wound to not be that bad. When he sent his magic to heal it however, he frowned at the unruly nature of the magic. What? Just earlier he'd had no problems controlling the power, so why was it an issue now?

~Well?~ Tsu'tey asked, not saying a word about his _ikran's_ less than stellar behaviour.

Harry schooled his expression blank once again and slipped around the sharp teeth of the beast more carefully, jumping up behind Tsu'tey. He wrapped his arms around the Navi's thin waist, but made no attempt to sidle up to him this time, instead choosing to keep as much distance between them as possible. Thankfully, it seemed his emotive touch had vanished along with the cave.

The ride back to Hometree was uncomfortable, to say the least, to the point where Harry had decided that slipping into a half-meditative state where he could exist but not exist was better than actually tearing himself apart over the gaping chasm that had seemed to open up between the two. It had been more than stupid to vent his anger in such a way back at the cave, but he hadn't stopped to think. Instead he had responded in accordance with his newfound grasp on his magic.

And now that grasp had faded once again, leaving him to slowly and painstakingly stitch together the small wound on his arm. At this rate, it would leave a small scar. Not that Tsu'tey would care about that, and Harry wouldn't care either if it weren't for the fact that every time he felt it, saw it, or thought about it, he would be reminded of the moment where Tsu'tey had been so… that the Na'vi's _ikran_ had actually deigned to injure him.

As soon as they were about to land on one of the higher branches of Hometree, Harry let go of Tsu'tey's waist and let momentum and gravity pull his body back and off the end of the _ikran_. Controlling the spinning momentum of his fall, he flipped through the air and landed on his feet. Best not to chance getting bitten again, after all.

Before Tsu'tey could react to his falling, Harry took off for the trunk of the tree and raced down the spiralling steps inside the Omaticayan home. The fact that Tsu'tey didn't chase after him was only one more nail in the coffin, so to speak.

Ignoring the pain building in his chest, Harry sought out Mo'at.

~A~

~You must be careful not to injure yourself and others, child. Words can do much,~ Mo'at said, a parting chide, as a young warrior left what passed for a 'room' in the tree. There weren't really four walls and a door, but at the same time the open space seemed closed by beads, vines, and strategically placed flora. Harry had no doubt the calming colours and placement had been arranged on purpose.

Mo'at met Harry's eyes and immediately frowned, motioning him forward. ~I had not expected to see you for a time. Tsu'tey has told me that you are learning well our ways.~ Her eyes looked over his dirt-encrusted visage with both concern and amusement. ~Have you been playing in the dirt?~

Harry bowed his head to her and sat where she indicated. Crossing his legs beneath him, he placed his forearms on his knees and stared at his folded hands. How did one broach a subject like what was eating him?

~Your thoughts spin and your emotions boil. What has happened, Harri?~

The AVATAR driver closed his eyes and took a deep, grounding breath. ~I…~ How much did he tell her? ~I don't know how to explain it. And I know…~ Knew it was wrong. Knew this culture didn't understand how a man could care for another man in the way he did. Knew that Tsu'tey would never-

A hand came to rest on his head, making his ears twitch back in surprise and his eyes shoot up. Mo'at watched him with open eyes and a smile curving her lips. ~I understand, Harri.~

The wizard frowned. ~How?~

Mo'at tilted her head slightly to one side. ~As _Tsahik_, one must learn to read eyes, expressions, and emotions. You will learn this just as you learn to hunt. With time. Now, tell me what troubles you.~

Harri chewed his lower lip for a long moment before letting out an explosive breath. ~I…~ Where to start? ~When I was lost in the forest, before the warriors found me, I met Tsu'tey. I did not know his name then, but he attacked me. During the… struggle… we connected.~

Mo'at's head tilted to one side. ~_Tsaheyl si? _How did it happen?~

Harry shrugged. ~It was an accident. I was on the ground, he was crouched over me, we connected, and after a moment he pulled away and left me for dead.~ While not completely accurate, he didn't want to tell her that he had yet to run into something that could kill him. ~It… happened a second time the night I first arrived here.~ Mo'at listened, showing little reaction to something that Harry had thought would alarm her. ~It was… longer. My _tswin_ was hurt when Tsu'tey pulled away. It… I've never had a connection like that before with another person.~ Might as well get to the point before Mo'at got too caught in whatever thoughts were making her eyes watch him so. ~When I asked Tsu'tey how he felt about it, when we were… exploring, he… he felt disgust. I could feel it, Mo'at. I could feel his disgust in my stomach as though it were my own, but I knew that it wasn't.~

Recognition flashed in those golden eyes. ~You are already beginning to feel, on your own. _Tsahik_ must learn to feel the emotions of others.~ Her eyes trailed over his features as she took his hand in hers. ~But this is not what troubles you. It was what he felt.~

Harry nodded, torn, staring at the four-digit hand encasing his own.

~You must learn now, young Harri, that emotions are a complicated book to read. You cannot discover the meaning of a story without listening to the whole tale. It is the same with people. Listening for but a moment does not explain all.~

Harry frowned and shook his head. ~Yes, I know, but-~

Mo'at cut him off with a wave of her free hand. ~Enough. Listen, and understand. Hearing is not the same as knowing. Look inside, yourself and Tsu'tey. Does he treat you as though you disgust him?~

Harry's mouth opened and closed for a long moment before finally forming a thin, pressed line. He shook his head. ~But why would he feel that way?~

Mo'at shrugged, the movement making the red beads of her poncho-like top tinkle gently. ~Perhaps he feels disgust at the dirt beneath his nails. Perhaps he feels disgust at himself. You mustn't judge on so little, Harry. It is not the way of _Tsahik_.~ The hand not gripping his own reached for his chest, placing itself above his heart. ~You must find balance between what is here,~ she tapped his chest, ~and what is here,~ she traced the markings on his forehead before leaning back with a small, wise smile.

Harry let out a breath, trying to assimilate her advice. Something wouldn't stop chewing at him, though. ~What if he felt disgust at having… I am a man. From what I have learned, _Tsaheylu_ between _Na'vi_ means they have bonded.~ Letting out a frustrated breath, he stared searchingly into Mo'at's eyes. ~What does this _mean?_~

Mo'at seemed reluctant to say anything. ~It… could mean many things. Once may be accident, Harri, but twice?~ Her shoulders rolled. ~The will of Eywa can often be difficult. To understand, to see, to hear… You must be patient. With yourself, and with Tsu'tey.~ Her free hand tapped his chest again. ~Listen here, and it will give your answers. In time.~

Harry took a deep breath and let it out, slowly. Well, at least Mo'at hadn't told him he was an abomination of nature and that he had to leave the clan immediately lest he risk spreading the plague of his homosexuality to the People.

~You must be careful causing pain to others, Harri, and yourself.~ Mo'at warned as she led him to the edge of the curtain of beads and fabric. With a gentle push, he was thrown back into the world of Pandora, Na'vi milling about, talking, doing their daily chores, playing…

Harry turned to Mo'at and bowed his head slightly with a small smile. ~Thanks for your time, _Tsahik_.~

She smiled that grave smile of hers, years of experience less and beyond his own shining behind familiar gold eyes. ~You will come tonight, Harri, after evening meal. We will begin your training.~ Gold eyes glanced behind him, and Harry dreaded the thought of turning around and facing the music. ~You will need it.~

When she turned away and disappeared back into the enclosure, Harry took in a steady breath and turned away, coming face to face with Tsu'tey. The warrior looked at him with focused eyes, but didn't move to touch him or get in his space. Turning around, he motioned Harry to follow him with a jerk of his head.

The human did so without a word.

~A~

The walk through Hometree, through the fields, and through the muddy swamp was made in silence. Harry took the time to organize his thoughts and meditate, calming and containing what had proven to be volatile emotions. By the time they reached the river, he felt far more comfortable in his own skin than he had for hours.

Looking around, Harry was surprised to realize that he recognized this place. It wasn't the larger river and falls closest to Hometree, but in fact the small and relatively shallow river that Tsu'tey had first taken him to wash in.

Said Na'vi made his way to the water, taking off his bow and setting it down against a tree not too far away, but far enough that only a large splash of water could wet it. Harry, who still didn't have a bow or knife of his own, being only a week into his training as _taronyu_, hunter, watched from the shore as Tsu'tey slipped into the water and began to wash without a word.

Realizing that the battle of words wasn't going to begin yet, Harry followed suit, grateful to finally get all the dirt off his body. The wound on his arm had healed enough that it no longer bled, but it was nice to clean out the grit that had gotten caught in it. Dipping his head under the water, he tried to rub the grit out of his hair only to fail miserably. When he came up for air the third time, he froze in surprise to see Tsu'tey there, something that looked like a comb held by spindly fingers.

Without a word, but with slow movements, he took Harry's queue, his _tswin_, in hand and undid the tie. Gentle fingers slipped into the loops of the braid, untwining it with a care and familiarity that surprised Harry. Not that it should have, he realized, since Tsu'tey probably had to do this himself once in a while, and the Na'vi knew how much it hurt when the neural filaments were damaged.

Harry stood like that for a long time as Tsu'tey went through the motions, taking the neural line and slipping it over Harry's shoulder to keep it out of harms way as he brushed knots and dirt out of Harry's long, black mane. After a while, the tender care was too much for Harry. Splashing his face and hair with water to hide any tracks on his face, he avoided Tsu'tey's eyes and tried to find the calm inside himself that he'd managed not ten minutes ago.

Except this time, it eluded him.

The braiding was the most painful. With each gentle caress of his neural filaments, pleasant tingles would spread through his brain, down his spine, until they reached the tips of his fingers and toes. When finally it was done, Harry wished he could collapse into the water and disappear into the current. Unfortunately, Tsu'tey didn't stop manhandling his hair. Instead, he started… braiding the shorter, loose pieces.

Confused, Harry stared at Tsu'tey in question. But the Na'vi appeared to be avoiding his eyes as well, focusing instead on the task before him. Only when the last piece was braided did their eyes meet, and even then Harry didn't know what he was reading inside their alien depths. Tsu'tey was proving harder to understand than any human he'd ever known. Of course, it didn't help that the man wasn't in the least bit human.

~Come,~ Tsu'tey finally said, leading Harry farther into the watery depths. They traveled a ways down the river, until thicker brush on either side and above made it almost seem as though they were in an isolated little world of their own.

Abruptly, Tsu'tey stepped onto a slab of rock hidden by shadows and bent light. Sitting down on the stone, his body only submerged to his upper waist, he crossed his legs underneath him and breathed deeply.

Slipping onto the rock himself, Harry sat across from the quiet and unreadable Na'vi with some level of trepidation. What exactly had the man brought him out here for? Surely not a grooming and meditation exercise.

After Harry had settled, Tsu'tey tilted his head to the side and watched the AVATAR driver with sharp, intelligent eyes. What had Grace's papers once said? The Na'vi absorbed information at a rate unheard of among humans, despite the fact that they maintained such simple lives. Did Tsu'tey see Harry as something to be learned? Like English in Grace's school, before it had been shut down?

~There is much that I would like to learn, much that you must learn, and much that we may learn together,~ the Na'vi began slowly, as though tasting and testing the words as they came out. ~If this is to happen,~ he continued when Harry didn't interrupt, ~You must learn to trust me.~

Harry frowned and opened his mouth to speak, but shut it just as quickly. He didn't trust himself to speak.

Tsu'tey waited a moment before continuing. ~I… must learn to trust you as well.~ Gold eyes glanced away for a moment, tracing the creatures and flora in the water that would glow with bioluminescence come nightfall. ~This will be… difficult for us both. I ask that you have patience, with both me and yourself. I…~ The warrior paused, visibly struggling with whatever it was he was trying to say. ~I am not the best teacher. I am often impatient… insensitive, as Omocan would say.~ Admitting that seemed to both cause him pain and amuse him. ~But I am doing my best to teach you as I was taught. However, there is much that is… new. Different. You are not _Na'vi_. You were born in a place far from here.~ Gold eyes flashed. ~Dark, dirty, painful…~ Those eyes met his own. ~I have seen your world. Through… _Tsaheylu_. Pieces, but enough. I have learned… many things.~ Shadows danced inside those eyes as he looked down at the water. ~Things that I don't yet completely understand.~ They traveled from the eddies, up Harry's torso, and to the wizard's eyes. ~I ask that you give me time, as I give you time.~

As Harry stared into those eyes, he didn't know what to think. Didn't want to hope that this could mean what he dreamed it could mean. Didn't want to face the consequences of Tsu'tey having seen his mind. Didn't want to face another disappointment.

Tsu'tey didn't seem to find whatever he was looking for in Harry's eyes, and his brow furrowed in… frustration? ~Harri. Why were you so angry?~

The human didn't know what he could say that would express the depth of feeling he found churning in his stomach. Didn't know if it was a wise idea to express it. Didn't know…

He gasped as _connection_ thrilled through him, pleasure tingling up his queue as his consciousness brushed against another. Looking down in shock, he stared at the sight of Tsu'tey's hands gripping both their queues and holding their neural filaments together.

_What?_

_-Toki Mirage-_

So, this was an interesting chapter to write. It would have been fun to have Harry and Tsu'tey toil about in that cave for this entire chapter, but based on logic that you guys aren't yet privy to, the story couldn't move forward that way. :P You'll figure it out eventually, if you haven't already.

Happy New Year!


	16. Chapter 16

**Azure Light**

~A~

_~You do not belong, Demon in a false body,~ Tsu'tey growled, watching as the dreamwalker's breathing became laboured and his eyes clouded. He would be quick to die. Much better than he deserved after trespassing on their world. All the Sky People needed to die and take their machines and greed with them._

_~Demon. Been called that before,~ the Sky Person wheezed. He must have met another Na'vi. There had been no recent deaths in the Omaticaya clan… the dreamwalker must have managed to escape unharmed. Any Na'vi warrior worth their sweat would have killed him on sight like Tsu'tey had._

_Making his way silently towards the interloper, he crouched over the dead body of the dreamwalker with a sneer. His nose wrinkled as he got closer. Strange, smelly clothes. Tsu'tey had worn a _'shirt'_ once. It had itched, made noise with every movement, and felt restrictive._

_Checking for breath, Tsu'tey was satisfied to see none. Perhaps now the Doctor, Augustine, would cease sending 'highly intelligent' and highly stupid dreamwalkers into their forests._

_Just as Tsu'tey was about to pull back, satisfied with his kill, a gasp of air lifted the demon's chest and vivid yellow eyes met his own. Startled, he reacted too late and a hand grasped his _tswin_ and pulled. Shouting in pain, he involuntarily collapsed onto the demon's body and then all he knew for an instant in time was the vast expanse of a mind older and _different_ than his own. Pain, death, destruction, life, years, loneliness… Pushing aside the pleasant sensations running down his spine from _Tsaheylu_, Tsu'tey ripped himself away and staggered as his _tswin_ ached at the abrupt loss of connection…_

~:+:~

_~What did you see?~ the dreamwalker asked softly, the dulcet tone of his voice both soothing and arousing his ire. He should not know that lullaby. He should never have seen a glimpse of Tsu'tey's mind. None of this should had happened! Tsu'tey hadn't wanted to See… ~I saw death. And life. An endless life. You…~ Bloodied, slashed wrists. A scream. Pain ripping through his chest. Fire all around… ~ tried to kill yourself.~_

_The dreamwalker's expression became sombre with the admission, and most of all it irked Tsu'tey how he could See in the demon's eyes more than he had ever wanted to see of self-hatred, hopelessness, and the crushing and all-encompassing weight of sorrow._

_~Yes. I did.~_

~:+:~

_Tsu'tey had never seen a dance so smooth, flowing, and controlled as the movements of the dreamwalker before him. He'd only left for a short time to retrieve them some food for the afternoon meal, but when he had returned he'd found the Lost Person practicing something he had never seen before._

_~What was that dance?~ Tsu'tey finally asked when the dreamwalker had come to a stop._

_A start of surprise. ~What dance?~_

_Tsu'tey repeated his question, slightly irritated. What was so difficult to understand?_

_~Ah, right. It's not actually a dance. It's called a _'kata'_. It's a… battle dance. You practice the movememnts until they are second nature, and then call upon them in battle.~_

_Tsu'tey, though he would never have admitted it, was curious. How had Sky People, or even Lost People, managed to create something so beautiful? Were they not beings of destruction, greed, and selfish desires?_

_Maybe they were truly as insane as Mo'at believed._

_When the dreamwalker later showed him another dance, this one slow and displaying every ounce of strength to be held within lean muscles, Tsu'tey had found himself at a loss for words, and a burning heat biting at his heels. Dedication, determination, strength, will, discipline… all these things could be read in every controlled movement of the being standing before him. All things he found valuable in a brother, a friend, a mate. All traits which Neytiri could boast with a comment, a look, a movement._

_But Neytiri had never made his blood burn._

_And that, more than anything, made a deep-set disgust and confusion curdle in his stomach, hidden beneath a stone face, a snarl, or a jarring flash of teeth._

:+:

_~It didn't hurt until you separated our _tswin_, right?~ Harri asked from where Tsu'tey cradled the dreamwalker's head against his knees after his recent death caused by a weak, collapsing ceiling of rock. The Na'vi felt torn at the question. The shining light inside Harri had intrigued him ever since he'd first glimpsed it the first time in the Lost Person's mind. When he had seen it cradled between two hands after bathing with Harri for the first time, he hadn't been able to resist touching it._

_But he hadn't been prepared for the sensations that had torn through his body. When their _tswin_ had joined shortly after, the warmth and pleasure had heightened until he had lost his control. In the aftermath, he had promised himself that he would never act so like a child, to touch something that had caused so many… problems, questions. The sanity of a person who he was coming to see as more than just a burden to be taught. ~No, it did not hurt until then.~ _

_He hoped that Harri would leave it be, but he did not. ~Did it… feel nice?~_

_The familiar churning knot of emotions in his stomach returned. Before he could speak, the dreamwalker had pulled his hand away. The loss of contact made him ache, as did the swirling emotions in Harri's eyes. When he pulled away from Tsu'tey completely, the Na'vi had to restrain himself from touching the other body; run his hands over it and confirm that Harri was still alive and fully healed._

_~Are you okay?~ he asked when he could no longer contain his concern. Without his bidding, his hand rose to land on the dreamwalker's shoulder. Was Harri angry with him? Could he See the confusing emotions churning inside him? Did he… _know?_ Did he know that Tsu'tey had seen so much in the dreamwalker's mind? Did he know how it plagued him during his sleep, the images of the man's dying friends, the constant ache of the planet dying around him, and the electric fire of emotions that he _couldn't feel_. Shouldn't feel. Eywa had not created her children as Mother Earth had, and now Tsu'tey was constantly fighting Lost People emotions for a man that he should never have seen as more than _brother_. Emotions that had bled through _Tsaheylu_ along with memories of a long life he'd never lived._

_It should have been impossible for him to blend with a dreamwalker. But Mo'at had told him to trust Eywa. Had counselled and cautioned him to be patient, open, flexible… things he had never been. Couldn't be. And yet… the mind of this alien had already changed so much._

_He hated change. Had always loathed it, had despised the presence of these aliens on his world. Was disgusted by their inherent, destructive natures. Angered by the deaths of so many Na'vi at the mercy of their weapons and machines, their callous savagery._

_~I'm fine,~ Harri said quietly, calmly, expression as blank as a stone smoothed by many years of passing water. There was an edge of a blade in his dulcet tones. Tsu'tey didn't try to touch him again, as he would another Na'vi. Harri no longer seemed to find him… fear dropped like a stone in Tsu'tey's stomach. Had the dreamwalker truly Seen what tore at him beneath the exterior? Did he find Tsu'tey's feelings… abhorrent?_

_Abruptly, a red light flared in front of Harri's hands, building in intensity and density until it exploded outward like a fire, sinking into stone and dirt and then _pushing_ it with tremendous force. Before Tsu'tey's disbelieving eyes, the obstacle that had trapped them inside the cave he held so dearly in his memories was blasted away in a similar manner to the carried fire of the Sky People._

_When the roof threatened to collapse once again, the dreamwalker sent red light from his hands once again and held it there, turning the stone red before black consumed the ceiling once again._

_Tsu'tey dared not breath, move, or speak as Harri's arms slowly fell, the red light receding and disappearing. Finally, he turned to Tsu'tey, fiery light burning inside golden eyes, the likes of which the Na'vi had never before seen. Even Neytiri after a long spar, both by hand and by words, hadn't shone with such presence in her eyes._

_~Shall we go?~ his voice cracked like the falling of a beast in the brush after a arrow had flown true._

_Tsu'tey fell back on stone, doing his best to maintain a calm he had only managed since the twining of two minds. ~You are angry,~ he observed, noting the way Harri's chest heaved breath, and the set of smooth lips. ~Why?~_

_The dreamwalker adopted surprise, but his eyes maintained their fire. ~Angry? Why would I be angry?~_

_Tsu'tey tried again, taking hold of the dreamwalker's arm before he could escape to Txon'ong. ~Yes, you are, and in anger you…~ He knew not the words to describe the fiery light he had seen._

_~Let. Go.~ Harri snapped, pulling at Tsu'tey's grip._

_Patience wearing thin despite what Mo'at had advised, Tsu'tey bared his teeth in challenge. He was the teacher. He was _Na'vi_, and while Harri had lived more years, he had not accepted many things, about himself and his memories. Tsu'tey may have become confused with what his mind had gleamed from the dreamwalker's, but he _did_ know himself, and he knew that Harri was _his.

_~What will you do?~ he asked, towering over the dreamwalker's slighter frame. ~Blast me as though I were rocks?~_

_Harri flinched away from him, emotions churning in his eyes like molten metal. The fire that had burned in molten eyes grew, then snuffed out in horror. ~I would never.~_

_~Then why will you not speak to me?~ Tsu'tey demanded. ~I am your _karyu_.~ He Saw Harri. Knew him better than he had come to know his future mate, Neytiri. Understood him better than another had learned him for many years, as he had seen in memories of self-inflicted solitude and loneliness. Why did Harri ignore this? If Harri were Na'vi, Tsu'tey would have taken him for a soul brother. But he was not. Mo'at had reminded him many times, he was not. Even if he became one of The People, he would always be one of the Lost People first._

_But Harri did not open himself. Did not share his words, his emotions. Would not let Tsu'tey into himself._

_~Come,~ the Na'vi ordered brusquely, pushing away thoughts of his selfworth and himself Seen through the dreamwalker's eyes. ~We return to Hometree.~_

~:+:~

_When they arrived at Hometree, Tsu'tey said nothing as Harri fled, tracking him as far as Mo'at before going to find a comb. Maybe after the dreamwalker had received advice from _Tsahik_ as Tsu'tey had, he would not be so stubborn._

_When Harri left the hanging beads, he said nothing, and so Tsu'tey led him to the river where he preferred to wash. While the wind had removed some of the dirt from the dreamwalker's skin, there was much cleaning yet to be done._

_Placing his bow safely against a tree, Tsu'tey moved into the water to bathe, knowing that Harri would follow in time. Waiting until the dreamwalker began to try to wash his hair, Tsu'tey moved forward with the comb he had acquired in hand._

_From the way Harri had let his hair knot and fall loose around his face with each passing day, Tsu'tey knew that the dreamwalker had yet to care for it. The sorry state of his _tswin_, filled with dirt and bits of rubble, was enough to make any Na'vi wince in sympathy. It wasn't often that one had to rebraid the _tswin_, but even children had their mothers do so until they learned how to hide the sensitive pink hairs in the safety of black strands._

_Gently taking the _tswin_ in hand, Tsu'tey removed the stretchy material that had kept the braid together. Unhappy with the quality of the tie – anything the Sky People made was unlikely to withstand the training of _taronyu_ – he slipped it around one finger, letting it sit next to the ties that he had brought with him._

_Gently unbraiding the _tswin_, Tsu'tey pulled out little bits of dirt and shiny metal as he went, careful not to damage the pink hairs that tried to curl around his fingers._

_It was a slow, tedious process to clean Harri's hair and brush the dirt out with the comb, but slowly the dreamwalker began to relax under his hands and even splash his hair with water to help. To Tsu'tey's amusement, most of the water splashed across Harri's face instead._

_After he had finished cleaning and removing any knots, Tsutey began the slow process of braiding the _tswin_. When he had tied the end and still Harri did not speak, he turned his attention to the hair he had purposely left loose from the braid. Taking the first piece in hand, he began braiding much more quickly now that he wasn't worried about damaging pink hairs. Tying them off with the bands he had collected, he avoided meeting a pair of golden eyes, unsure as to what he would find there._

_When he finally finished, an idea had taken form in his mind. Drawing on warrior's courage, he met Harri's eyes. ~Come.~ Leading the way downstream to a submerged, flat stone that he would often sit upon and meditate on nights where he couldn't sleep, he climbed on top and slipped into a familiar, cross-legged posture._

_Watching Harri as the dreamwalker settled, Tsu'tey wondered if it would be necessary. When Harri failed to speak first, Tsu'tey took a deep, fortifying breath and wondered what he could say. ~There is much that I would like to learn, much that you must learn, and much that we may learn together.~ When unable to supply advice of your own, repeat what your _Tsahik_ had been drilling into your head for the past week. ~If this is to happen, you must learn to trust me.~_

_Mo'at had stressed trust. Said that if Tsu'tey were to find out why Eywa had allowed them to join, to bond, then they would have to… share, bond, trust. All things that Tsu'tey could do well enough with his own people, but had been so far unable to do with Harri. The dreamwalker was just so… different. With each word, breath, movement, he displayed the gap between their two peoples. It was impossible to forget that Harri had not been born _Na'vi.

_~I… must learn to trust you as well,~ he admitted. Mo'at was not here to hit him with her words, but her memory was. ~This will be… difficult for us both. I ask that you have patience, with both me and yourself. I…~ Tsu'tey paused, stomach curling at the thought of his weakness. ~I am not the best teacher. I am often impatient…~ As Mo'at reminded him daily. ~Insensitive, as Omocan would say.~ While Omocan had said it once or twice, Neytiri had taken it upon herself to remind him of his failings more often, though she responded badly when he reacted in kind. While Tsu'tey did not enjoy these altercations, the way Neytiri would hiss and glare was always a good source of amusement._

_~But I am doing my best to teach you as I was taught.~ Omocan had been a teacher that Tsu'tey could never hope to overtake. While the warrior had become a better hunter than his elder, Omocan always seemed to posess more knowledge, more experience, more wisdom. ~However, there is much that is… new. Different. ~ Tsu'tey had seen a depth of experience and knowledge in Harri's mind, but there had also been… an innocence. Hope. Wonder at the joys of Pandora and Eywa. These things had all made him appear less as a being of immeasurable life, and had made him almost… ~You are not _Na'vi_. You were born in a place far from here.~ Images of Harri's world, torn apart by greed and metal flashed through Tsu'tey's mind. ~Dark, dirty, painful…~ Tsu'tey could almost taste the blood on his tongue from when he – _Harri_ – had woken after shooting himself in the head. _Anything to end the screaming, clawing, tearing, rending pain of the dying Mother. _~I have seen your world. Through… _Tsaheylu._~ The memory of the two times they had joined minds brought him a confusing knot of emotions. ~Pieces, but enough. I have learned… many things.~ Had felt Harry's pleasure as he mated with a stranger in the corner of a dark place with flashing lights and loud booming noise. A _male_ stranger. ~Things that I don't yet completely understand.~ How could he, when he had never mated with another? Had not even thought it possible to mate with another male? _

_Tsu'tey pulled his eyes away from the dancing waters in front of him and back to Harri's own. There was so much he did not understand. So much he knew and did not know about the dreamwalker before him who intrigued and confused him so._

_~I ask that you give me time, as I give you time.~ Time to understand. Time to learn. Time to come to grips with the things Harri's mind had opened him to. Time to come to accept the fact that it had even _happened_, to learn to see this not as a disgusting defilement of his mind and self, but as a gift. As Mo'at would say: ~One often grows the most from the most troubling of matters.~_

_When Harri's eyes searched his own and began to darken with confusion, sadness, anger, and disappointment, Tsu'tey frowned and wished the dreamwalker could Hear his words. As he had with Mo'at. ~Harri. Why were you so angry?~ Tsu'tey couldn't find the answer to this question. Hadn't been able to the entire flight back to Hometree._

_When once again no words were forthcoming, Tsu'tey tempered his resolve and reached into the water behind and in front of him. If Harri could neither See nor Hear him, perhaps Tsu'tey could show him. Perhaps then Harri would be willing to share more of himself._

_Their _tswin_ connected with an almost-familiar wave of pleasant sensation, and Tsu'tey pushed forward with every intention of showing Harri what he was too blind to See._

-Toki Mirage-

Sup peeps! In the air right now on my way back to school. :P Bet you weren't expecting an update like this. :D Mwahaha. Usually I'm totally anti-flashback, but I got some reviews where people were confused as to the underlying logic of what I've been writing into these characters. Mind I didn't have all that much to go on in the first place in regards to Tsu'tey, but trust me when I say that in every single moment that you read these two interacting, my internal writer has the Tsu-Logic running in the background justifying his every single move. As you can see in the chapter above. If you cross reference these scenes from each angle, you'll be able to see exactly what was going on behind the golden eyes of our favourite Tsamsiyu-hottie. :D I (heart) Tsu'tey.

Lastly, I had a comment from someone in regards to the scientific aspects of all this stuff going on. In my defence, I'd like to point out that at no point in the movie do they ever explain what all these highly paid and highly intelligent people are actually _doing_ during the course of the movie besides "Signal Transduction". Also, few people actually care about the miniscule logistics of every single little technical thing going on here. Did the movie ever own up to the question of what exactly happened to the science department in Grace's absence? No. However, since I believe it's logical that Grace would leave _someone_ in charge, or at least in a position to kick asses, I decided that Harry would be a good substitute for whatever poor sod might have been given the job behind the scenes the first time. And for one last parting shot – In regards to the complaints of a lack in gripping suspense and hair-raising action in this story when compared to my other writing: Not everything I produce has to be the same. Even I get sick of the driving plot destroying all framework of canon. If I want to explore character relationships, squicky romance, and gorge-rising drama, then I bloody well will.

Thank you, and I hope you have an enjoyable flight. I certainly am. :)


	17. Chapter 17

**Azure Light**

~A~

_Harry sighed, letting his body plop bonelessly onto the couch. Rubbing at his eyes, he tried to ignore the aching in his heart as he strengthened his shields from a familiar pain. Another failed experiment. Another ten years wasted on an idea that he wasn't really intelligent enough to come up in the first place._

_If only Hermione were still alive. Perhaps she'd be able to figure out what exactly was wrong with him. Why he was still living and breathing when all others had died._

_Forcing himself back to his feet, he frowned at the sight of the sun beginning to cut through the numerous, tall buildings of the residential area he lived in. Morning already?_

_With a sigh, he shuffled into the kitchen to fix himself some breakfast and face another day working the boring job of an amateur 'muggle' computer analyst, all the while trying to ignore the memory of a golden sun rising over a calm lake and reflecting off the half-forgotten face of a castle long since disintegrated._

~:+:~

_The warm body slammed him into the wall, mouth latching onto his neck as he tried to lose himself in sensation. Alcohol blurred the edges of his awareness, and the acrid scent of the other man's breath was distracting, but he'd been doing this for more years than he cared to keep track of anymore._

_He'd had a lover once. Someone he'd almost felt he could live and die with. Someone who he had made an imperfect relationship with despite their situations. Someone who would whisper to him in the middle of the night when he couldn't sleep, who would make him grandma's home made apple cider, who would accept that he didn't speak of some things despite how much it irritated him._

_Greg had died at the age of fifty, questioning Harry's youth, his job, and even their relationship. Harry's one regret had been letting the man storm out of their apartment after their last fight, and losing him to a cabbie that had been shooting a little too much morphine._

_Jim didn't have that problem. Or was it Jared? James, Jayne… Harry couldn't remember. Didn't really care. Pushed himself off the wall, driving the other man back to his bed so he could lose himself in the rhythm of a hard pounding. Jim fought him for the upper ground, but Harry pushed and prodded and _dominated_ until he was two fingers deep in the other man and had massaged his prostate into submission. Pulling a condom out of his back pocket, he opened the zipper of his pants and slipped the sleeve onto him. Before Jim could protest, he had buried himself deep and nailed the prostate on the first try._

_He'd been having sex for longer than the other man, after all. No point in being disappointed in a bad fucking when he could take control and get what he wanted. No one had been near his ass since Greg, and it was going to stay that way._

~:+:~

_Harry snapped into awareness with a jolt, blinking bleary eyes when he realized he was in his bathroom. The bathtub, to be specific. Looking at the bloody water around him, he couldn't keep the sob from escaping him. A sob that broke the dam and turned into tears and cries of anguish. Cries that turned into angry shouting as he reached the end of his rope and his magical core exploded like a supernova, ripping through his bathroom to the rooms around him until the entire building was as shattered as his control._

_In the midst of the explosion, he disapparated and found himself in the ruins of Hogwarts. Magic coated his skin and protected him from the dangerous substances in the air and on the ground. For days he stayed there, curled up in a protective circle of rubble, trying to come to terms with the fact that even death had abandoned him._

~:+:~

_Days melted into weeks that melted into months until Harry finally decided that no matter what he did, he wasn't going to die. He wasn't sure if it was magic, if it was a curse, if it was the bloody planet itself, but even starvation in the Hogwarts marsh of radioactive waste hadn't been enough to end his existence._

_Pushing his tired body upright, he examined his surroundings one more time before disapparating._

_He stayed in the alley that he popped into for a few days, conjuring some rags to wear as he figured out what he wanted to do with himself. There was so much out there, and he had already lived all the lives that he had wanted to live back in the 1990s when Voldemort had tipped his world upside down and Dumbledore had entrusted him with the impossible task of tasks._

_Now, though?_

"_Hey."_

_Harry turned his head, not particularly alarmed to see that there was a man standing not a foot away from him. A man that he could easily see was loaded and expensive._

_If Harry had cared, he would have wondered why such a man had decided to enter into his alleyway._

"_I'm speaking to you, street rat."_

_Harry dragged his eyes away from the expensive clothes and the two bodyguards that stood not far behind. Slowly, he brought them up to peruse the man's face._

_Neo-Aristocrat. Could pay to have his face transformed into a perfect visage with this decade's latest improvements of not plastic surgery, but direct DNA manipulation. Who used something as amazing as the ability to manipulate DNA as a singularly unamazing beauty product?_

_Why, the human race of course._

"_Yes, I do believe you are," Harry finally drawled, sick of being scrutinized by a man who really had no right standing within ten feet of his dumpster._

_The man's eyes flickered as his head tilted to the side. "I'm looking for someone with nothing left to lose. Do you want money?"_

_Harry stared at him, more uncaring than disbelieving or any other such emotion. "No."_

_The businessman frowned. "Drugs?"_

_Harry ignored that one entirely. Really. He'd already tried the drug route. Unfortunately for the wizard, magic was rather susceptible, and not in a good way. The last time he'd gotten high off the market's latest wonder drug, he'd decimated an entire block of the red district and somehow managed to make it look like a terrorist bomber had hit it from the air. From the _air_. Seriously. How he had managed to fly around when higher than a hippogriff, he had no idea._

"_Sex?"_

_Harry sighed and went back to staring listlessly at the head of a dead cat peaking out from behind a stack of boxes in the alley._

_The Neo-Aristocrat frowned and leaned in closer. "Then what do you want?"_

_Harry stared ahead._

"_Why do you keep asking me these stupid questions? Go find another homeless bum to kill your grandfather for you."_

_The man froze, his guards stopped their shifting and Harry could feel three sets of intense eyes on his form._

"_I'm afraid I don't know what you're talking about," the business man said coldly, standing upright and brushing his expensive suit to lay it flat._

_Harry laughed. Laughed as the Neo-Aristocrat shot him in the heart. Kept laughing until a bullet landed in his head to silence him._

~:+:~

_Harry sat at his living room couch with a glass of wine in hand, staring at the sunset just outside his window._

_It had been years before Harry found a new purpose. Years before he finally gave up looking for a death that would not come. Years before one particular death sent him to the brink, the edge of a road that was torn with pain far worse than the hole that constantly ate at his heart. That glimpse of nothing/everything/agony/death/fadinglife was enough to put him off intentionally ending his life for a long time._

_It was years before he found a new path, however. Curiosity drove him to this house, to this place, to this university program that was just beginning to grow. The study of energy. Sure, it was unlikely that they would discover magic or somesuch, but perhaps the program would give him an insight into that place he had gone after death, or the pain in his heart and echo of screams that now constantly tormented him. It was a long shot, but it wasn't like all the religious studies he had done so far had helped much. Lots of information in his head, but no real direction. Sure, he had a few theories, but that was it._

_Sighing, he sipped at the wine and let out a long, weary sigh. School started tomorrow. Perhaps he should get some sleep._

~:+:~

_Harry let loose a scream of anger, sending a blast of magic to destroy a pile of old computers that had been abandoned along with this warehouse. Watching the plastic and metal explode and sizzle, he tried to calm himself down without much effect._

_It was the muggles. It was the fucking muggles, and he couldn't believe it. Couldn't believe that everything he had ever believed to be the truth was false, that Voldemort might as well have been right all along. Muggles _were_ a disease, spreading their technology and slowly leaching life from the planet as they pilfered almost all of the natural resources and life from its surface._

_Collapsing to the ground, he put his head between his legs and tried to keep the world from spinning as a particularly harsh wave of pain tore at his chest and the screams rose to a new crescendo. He was hearing it all the time now, the cries of the dying planet, the cries of the souls trapped within her that were suffering just as much._

_There was nothing. Nothing he knew how to do. Nothing he could think of to do. Would destroying the muggles fix this? Would wiping out all traces of technology? Nothing was for certain…_

_He didn't know what to do…_

~:+:~

_Harry threw the dead crystal to the ground with a scowl, watching as it shattered into a million shards. He couldn't even raise the energy to be angry, at this point. Ten years of storing magic in that thing, and nothing. It hadn't worked. Sure, he'd managed to create a killzone of technology at a twenty kilometre radius, but it hadn't been enough. Not _nearly_ enough._

_Another failed experiment. Another failed idea. Another… failure._

… _Maybe it was time he… took a break._

~:+:~

_Harry stayed sitting in his chair long after the talk on… _Pandora_ had finished. A new planet. A whole new world where humans had already started to… Colonize wasn't the right word. Pilfer would probably be more accurate. Although there were scientists on the expedition, the driving force behind the whole show was that metal they were looking for._

_Money always drove the greedy._

_But those avatar things… it was truly fascinating what could be accomplished these days. Even though he'd already gotten a few PHDs under his belt, he'd never forayed into DNA construction. Not to the level where it was possible for scientists to plice the genes of a human into that of an alien and then implant the correct neural links for remote control and transfer of consciousness._

_It sounded… pretty cool actually._

_Running a hand over his face, he leaned back in the chair and let his head fall back until he was staring up at the boring lights on the ceiling. Maybe…_

_Maybe he could go there and save himself the agony of continuing to live on a planet he couldn't heal, no matter what he tried._

~:+:~

_Floating. It felt like he was floating in a sea of coloured lights. He could feel everything, the feet trampling his surface, his children returning to him, children leaving him, a constant influx of information and experience from those returning. It was wonderful, it was beautiful, it was…_

_Wrong._

_He had no children. He didn't know how he knew, he just… knew. Just like he knew no feet trampled his surface. He had no surface, he… he was…_

_What was he? He couldn't remember. But he did remember a pain. A pain so strong and terrifying that it had driven him to leave. But leave what? What had he left behind? What had he forgotten?_

_~Leave what is forgot. Join us in peace, child. You have lived for far too long.~_

_He frowned. He had lived… Yes, he had lived. A long life, a life better forgotten in favour of this peace, of this warmth, of this… salvation. He wanted it._

_But it was wrong. Why?_

_~It is right. Join us, child. Your experiences will enrich us.~_

_Us? Who was 'us'? He didn't want to cease to exist. Didn't want to get swallowed into nothingness, didn't want to suffer an eternal torment too terrible to put into words-_

_~There is no pain. Join us.~_

_But there _was_ pain. He could feel it gnawing at his feet, digging holes with drills and explosives and pulling pieces of bone out of his decimated skin._

_~It is a lesser pain. It will leave us.~_

_Why would it leave? It wouldn't leave. The humans wouldn't leave until they had gotten all the unobtainium that they wanted._

_Confusion. ~It will leave. Join us.~_

_No, it wouldn't. He wouldn't. He _knew_. Knew the nature of the beings that had destroyed the home he came from. Knew it to his very bones that they wouldn't stop until this beautiful and peaceful place had been torn asunder as well._

_The voice remained silent, convinced in its experience that it was right and Harry was wrong. That nothing could destroy it._

_For the first time, Harry knew how to speak back. ~Earth thought that once, too. And it did not end well. You will see.~_

_But the voice just continued its litany of 'join us', drawing him close with feelings of peace, happiness, and contented silence. He knew it would be short-lived, however. Could already feel the toxins in the air from the smelting plants clogging the atmosphere and the claws digging into the dirt destroying life on the surface of the planet._

_No, he couldn't join it. If he joined it, he would have no more say in the world of the living._

_And if there was one thing he wanted, it was control of his own destiny._

With a gasp of breath, they woke up.

_-Toki Mirage-_

I know it's been a while. Life gets in the way. Hope you guys liked the chapter! I'll try to get the next one out soon. Unfortunately, I have a bit of a backlog of things that need updating…


	18. Chapter 18

**Azure Light**

~A~

Harry snapped out of the dream at the same time Tsu'tey did. He could feel it. Could feel the Na'vi's consciousness along his own, the background sensation of their link like a warm blanket wrapped around him, blocking some of the pain that had woken in his heart. Pain that Tsu'tey shared now.

Staring into those golden eyes, he froze. For the first time in a long while, he had absolutely no idea what to do. Recent revelations had proven that he really didn't understand anything as well as he had thought he did.

_What now?_

Tsu'tey reached out with both hands and took Harry's into his own. It was time for whatever they wanted. Harry could feel Tsu'tey's intent through the bond. Could feel that the Na'vi cared for him in a way he had never cared for another Na'vi. Could feel that Tsu'tey wanted to take away the pain in his heart, and yet understood that nothing he did would ever be able to erase the scar, even though the wound was beginning to heal.

Harry couldn't help but feel amusement at the thought of 'whatever they wanted'. Tsu'tey's 'remembering' of Harry engaging in sex had both embarrassed the wizard and aroused him. It'd be nice to get laid, but apparently these bodies couldn't jack off.

When Tsu'tey's amusement, embarrassment, and mixed confusion and understanding came down the bond, Harry realized his mistake. Heat rushing to his face, he looked away from the intensely examining Na'vi eyes. Right. Mind link equals Tsu'tey knowing his thoughts. Shit.

Annoyance came down the bond this time as Tsu'tey gave him a mental nudge. They were bonded. As much as Tsu'tey had tried to deny it before, they had first bonded before Eywa, and the Mother had approved, otherwise they wouldn't be where they were today. They would not officially be mates until they had mated before the Eywa but it was certain that they would be together. Tsu'tey didn't know what he was going to tell Neytiri. Didn't know what his people would say when they saw that the one to become _Olo'eyktan_ had mated with not only a male, but a dreamwalker. But somehow, when he was joined with Harry, it didn't seem nearly as daunting as when it was just himself.

Harry sent a wave of… well, comfort, knowledge, experience… They would figure it out. Harry had never been in a situation like this before, but who was he to turn away from another adventure? Besides, he'd never… Mixed emotions filled him. There had never been someone on Earth who understood him as Tsu'tey now did, and he could _feel_ that understanding. Feel how Tsu'tey's feelings, knowledge, and views had changed slightly, affected by those of Harry's own. Could feel how his own understanding of the People had shifted.

Could sense how his feelings towards the Sky People had acquired a new angle of darkness. A new hate born of adolescence and possessiveness and the _knowing_ that what these aliens took was not their own, and they didn't _belong._ Hatred grown from personal loss as the memory of the soldiers who gunned down the school flashed before Harry's eyes.

The wizard closed his physical eyes for a moment as the memory and strong emotions swept over him. Watched through flickering images, impressions, memories as Tsu'tey's father was killed by soldiers when he was but a boy. All he had done was protect the village, and the demons had cut him down. That day Tsu'tey had vowed to be stronger, so the next time he could _kill_ them before they stole something else from him. From them all. That drive had pushed him to the top of the clan, until Neytiri's father had chosen him to be the new _Olo'eyktan_ after the Trials.

Harry almost lost himself in the memory for a moment, but something caught his attention and pulled him out of it. Tsu'tey was poking at his magic core. It wasn't a physical poke by any stretch of the imagination, but when they were linked like this, it seemed even thinking curiously about it was enough to catch its attention.

And caught its attention, Tsu'tey certainly did. The magic rushed down their link and into his body, startling the Na'vi and in turn startling Harry with emotions and feelings of unfamiliarity, confusion, worry, curiosity, and slight fear.

Harry sent a wave of calm down their bond. Magic was influenced by the subconscious mind when the conscious mind wasn't in control of it. It would never harm Tsu'tey unless Harry wanted him to be harmed, so the Na'vi had nothing to be worried about.

Slowly, as the magic did nothing but curl curiously about Tsu'tey before retreating gently back to Harry's core, the Na'vi began to relax and the emotions surging down the link filtered back into that innocent curiosity of youth. The emotion quickly segued into annoyance at Harry's amusement. Just because the Lost One was hundreds of years older than him didn't mean he could be condescending.

Harry's amusement increased as he bowed his head in proper chastisement. Tsu'tey's tail whacked his leg. Harry tickled him back. Somehow that resulted in Tsu'tey feeling he had the right to tickle Harry to death, and the dreamwalker let out a startled yelp and jumped away from the touch. Tsu'tey followed him and they fell into the deeper waters beyond the rock.

Emotions twisted and turned together until amusement became the dominant emotion as they fought, tickled, and groped at each other for the upper hand. Finally, Harry's lungs began to demand his attention, and annoyed with his place underneath Tsu'tey, he pushed back the water around them until they were encased in a bubble. Using the Na'vi's surprise to his advantage, he flipped them in the air before landing on top of Tsu'tey on the mossy, rocky, silty river bed.

_Gotcha_, he grinned, teeth bared in a satisfied grin as he pinned Tsu'tey in place with his hands and legs.

The Na'vi grinned back at him, and Harry had a moment of suspended unease before something _yanked_ and he let out a howling hiss of surprised agony. Before he could recover, he found himself pinned to the riverbed. What the hell had- flashes of amusement and the sensation of a tail curling around his own, caressing it in apology. As the pained ache began to fade, the tail caressing his own became highly… erotic.

Before Harry could stop the thought from forming, it had bounced down the bond to Tsu'tey and the Na'vi froze above him. The half-human let out an annoyed groan as his brain followed the predictable human pattern of arousal. As if a switch had been hit in his head, and really, it had, his arms tensioned against his perceived bonds and his brain timely announced that it had been a very _long_ time since he'd had the pleasure of allowing himself to be dominated by another man.

Face heating with arousal and embarrassment, he turned his head away to avoid Tsu'tey's eyes, doing his best to separate the arousal zinging down their bond. It wasn't Tsu'tey's fault humans could be aroused by just about anything. Not that Harry knew that much about Na'vi sex drives-

Tsu'tey derailed his thoughts by kissing and nipping at his neck, frying his mental circuitry with a zap of electricity. _Damn_. It had been so long and- Tsu'tey had found his ears. Letting out a mewl he didn't even know he was capable of, he tilted his head farther to the side and grinded upwards in an instinctual reaction to _touch_ and-

Lights exploded behind Harry's eyes as his groin made contact with Tsu'tey's hip and this time there was _actually something there to-_ and the pleasure of blessed friction burned up his spine from his lower regions and fried his brain cells as he shot straight off the edge. But it didn't end there. His pleasure traveled to Tsu'tey and the Na'vi let out a hoarse cry as the unfamiliar sensations raced through his own body and set him off in a way never before experienced until their bond was a completed circuit of sensation that kept setting Harry off again and again as it cycled between them and-

Water collapsed towards them as Harry's control broke under the assault and peak of energy between them before exploding away under the influx and expulsion of uncontrolled power. Harry collapsed bonelessly against the riverbed, uncaring of the occasional rock digging into his back. Man. That wasn't even _comparable_ to-

His attention snapped back to Tsu'tey, who was stiff and tense as a board, a parallel opposite to the water leisurely spinning around them like a whirlpool. A sliver of panic sliced through Harry's warm haze. Shit. Tsu'tey hadn't – Harry hadn't even _asked_ – it all happened so fast – what if Tsu'tey never spoke to him again or-

The Na'vi's body collapsed on top of him in a heavy, panting, shaking heap, startling Harry out of his spiralling thoughts. The abrupt change derailed his panic enough for him to realize that they were still connected, and when he reached out to feel along the bond, he gasped softly at the wealth of convoluted and intense emotion that lay beyond.

But none of it was regret or anger, and that eased a tense little knot deep inside Harry's gut. Nuzzling his face into the Na'vi's neck, he let out a deep, contented sigh and relaxed under the weight of the slightly taller Na'vi. Letting his arms wrap themselves around the warm, wet back, he closed his eyes and tried to pick his way through the mess coming from the bond.

Surprise. Quite a heavy dose of it. He had… enjoyed it, a lot. Hadn't expected it to be so intense. From what he'd felt in the visions, Harry's own experiences hadn't been like that. Jealousy. At past lovers long gone. Mixed guilt and self-condemnation for not waiting until Harry was _taronyu_ or _Tsahik_ to mate like he should have, as was expected among the People.

Harry dug his fingers into the tense muscles of Tsu'tey's back, slowly soothing them as he sent a rebuttal down the bond. First of all, Tsu'tey was incomparable to past _flings_ and should just stop worrying about that entirely, he mentally chided. Second, their bond was not typical in any way, and even Mo'at understood that, so Tsu'tey shouldn't expect things to go according to plan. Thirdly, a little frottage was hardly full on sex. You needed penetration for that.

Tsu'tey frowned and pushed himself upright on shaky limbs, meeting Harry's eyes with confusion and a bit of annoyance.

Harry raised an eyebrow. Among humans, full on sex required that Tsu'tey stick his dick in Harry, and since that hadn't happened, they weren't fully mated. So what was the issue?

Tsu'tey stared at him for a long, drawn out moment before his brain processed that and he started laughing softly. It was Harry's turn to frown. What exactly did Tsu'tey find so funny?

Tsu'tey buried his face in Harry's neck and just continued laughing, his whole body shaking with mirth that was reflected just as brightly down their bond. ~Your words carry a personality of their own,~ he said between his chuckles.

Harry's frown deepened. He did not enjoy not knowing how he was the butt of a joke.

Tsu'tey just continued laughing helplessly. ~If you had spoken so to Mo'at or another Na'vi, they would have been horrified. And yet, I _understand_.~

~Understand what?~ Harry asked, now genuinely annoyed.

Tsu'tey grinned against his neck. ~Your way of thinking is funny, both knowing the way of my People and the way of yours, I mean.~

Harry ran his past 'words' through his head again and blushed slightly. Oh. ~Yeah, well, it's true! No penetration, no mating!~

Tsu'tey laughter finally began to die. ~If we follow your logic and apply it to the ancient ritual of the Na'vi, then does that mean we have to put off _'intercourse'_ until '_marriage'_?~ he asked, injecting the true English words for effect.

Harry gaped. He had corrupted the hunter! Since when was his messed up sense of humor coming out of someone else's mouth?

Tsu'tey continued to grin. ~Now you see how it is funny.~

"Jerk."

"Horn dog."

"Gah! How did you even learn that?"

~Most of your memories were not completely clear, but there are… impressions and flashes left behind.~

Harry banged his head against the riverbed. Just like flashes of Tsu'tey's childhood hung at the edge of his mind. Unlike Tsu'tey, however, he was trained in Occlumency and his mind had automatically carted all the foreign elements into a nice, neat little box that he would enjoy perusing later.

_Unfair!_

It was Harry's turn to grin. ~Just you wait until you have the real thing,~ he shot back, throwing the Na'vi off track with images and tactile memories of what it felt to have a warm column of flesh pressed inside. A shiver traveled up his spine as he shared in the memory. Oh yes, he couldn't _wait_ until Tsu'tey nailed him to a tree.

~You are so- so- ~ A bundle of emotions crashed against him and Harry laughed.

"You're such a prude," he murmured softly with a grin, licking Tsu'tey's neck. The Na'vi jolted and glared at him. Meeting those angry, molten eyes, Harry just continued to smile and bask in the warm glow of sexual relief and contentment. _But I love you anyway_.

The Na'vi froze a second after Harry realized that Tsu'tey could read his thoughts. When a jolt of shock and panic raced through him, Tsu'tey growled and put his teeth to Harry's neck. Convoluted but unmistakable emotions surged down the bond, and Harry gasped as he was subjected to Tsu'tey's vision of himself.

_-the way emotion/power/presence/strength/defiance burned under his flesh and in his eyes like it was alive-_

_-how he had helped that homeless child so long ago without a thought to himself-_

_-the way his face lit up when Tsu'tey was privy to a rare spark of joy-_

_-how he had risked his own life countless times for others in a war he hadn't known if he could win-_

_-the way his body moved through the kata like water itself-_

_-how others had hurt him countless times and yet blame and hatred were always so carefully and hesitantly meted out-_

_-the way he opened himself to Tsu'tey and accepted what was given in return-_

_-mate-_

Harry swallowed and forced back the burning in his eyes as he curled around the Na'vi.

_-home-_

_-Toki Mirage-_

So… That was rather more romantic than I originally intended. I know CHP 17 was mighty piddly, and I am sorry for that. My original intention was to write 17 and 18 in one go, but I got part of the beginning of 18 done and then abandoned it for nearly a month. When I returned to it later, I was so disgusted with where I had almost led the story that I was turned off writing for a week. Sad, but true. This second attempt is /much/ better and (hopefully) worth the wait…


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